<programming> A term descibing a system that takes a set (a "batch") of commands or jobs, executes them and returns the results, all without human intervention. This contrasts with an interactive system where the user's commands and the computer's responses are interleaved during a single run.
A batch system typically takes its commands from a disk file (or a set of punched cards in the old days) and returns the results to a file (or prints them). Often there is a queue of jobs which the system processes as resources become available.
Hackers use this somewhat more loosely than the traditional technical definitions justify; in particular, switches on a normally interactive program that prepare it to receive non-interactive command input are often referred to as "batch mode" switches. A "batch file" is a series of instructions written to be handed to an interactive program running in batch mode.
(19 Jan 1995)