In system software, a job queue (sometimes batch queue), is a data structure maintained by job scheduler software containing jobs to run.
Users submit their programs that they want executed, "jobs", to the queue for batch processing. The scheduler software maintains the queue as the pool of jobs available for it to run.
Multiple batch queues might be used by the scheduler to differentiate types of jobs depending on parameters such as:
- job priority
- estimated execution time
- resource requirements
The use of a batch queue gives these benefits:
- sharing of computer resources among many users
- time-shifts job processing to when the computer is less busy
- avoids idling the compute resources without minute-by-minute human supervision
- allows around-the-clock high utilization of expensive computing resources
Famous quotes containing the words job and/or queue:
“The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“English people apparently queue up as a sort of hobby. A family man might pass a mild autumn evening by taking the wife and kids to stand in the cinema queue for a while and then leading them over for a few minutes in the sweetshop queue and then, as a special treat for the kids, saying “Perhaps we’ve time to have a look at the Number Thirty-One bus queue before we turn in.””
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1940)