Types of Processing

Real-time processing

data is processed immediately after it is inputted and is quick enough to influence the next input received

Examples of real-time processing

booking systems, air traffic control

Batch processing

collecting groups of similar data over a period of time and processing them together without any human involvement

Examples of batch processing

billing systems, payroll systems

Multi-user systems

many users at different computers sharing the same processor as the operating system switches at high speed between them, giving each a ‘time slice’

What is a ‘time slice’

a small amount of processor time

Examples of multi-user systems

multi-user database management systems