Job processing is data processing that is non-interactive with a start and an end. This differs from interactive applications that are used by people. It also differs from systems, services and servers that are up all the time as opposed to running and terminating. The following are illustrative examples of job processing.
Operating Systems
An operating system schedules a monthly job to clean up some files.
A video sharing site runs a process to convert several million videos to a new format. The job is run as a low priority background process that uses computing resources when they are available.
Reporting
A job performs an analysis and generates a weekly report. It is executed by a scheduler late at night when its required resources are under a light load.
Backups
A job on a server compresses, encrypts and transfers files each evening to a backup server.
A social media platform runs an algorithm once a day to calculate a score for the quality of accounts.
Notes
Job processes are often batch processes such that the two terms are used interchangeably. The main difference is that a batch process iterates over a set of data whereas a job process might not. This distinction is old and seldom applied now.
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