Job control (computing): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:15, 21 November 2019

Revision as of 16:21, 21 November 2019

Line 1:

{{aboutAbout|Job control in non-IBM (mainframe) computing|IBM, Unix or non-computing | Job control{{!}}Job control (disambiguation)}}

{{refimproveMore citations needed|date=August 2017}}

In [[computing]] '''job control''' refers to the control of multiple tasks or [[Job (softwarecomputing)|jobs]] on a [[Computer|computer system]], ensuring that they each have access to adequate resources to perform correctly, that competition for limited resources does not cause a [[deadlock]] where two or more jobs are unable to complete, resolving such situations where they do occur, and terminating jobs that, for any reason, are not performing as expected.

Job control has developed from the early days of computers where human [[Computer operator|operators]] were responsible for setting up, monitoring and controlling every job, to modern [[operating system]]s, which take on the bulk of the work of job control.

Even with a highly sophisticated scheduling system, some human intervention is desirable. Modern systems permit their users to stop and resume jobs, to execute them in the foreground (with the ability to interact with the user) or in the background. [[Job control (Unix)|Unix-like systems follow this pattern]].