Dictionary.net

A term describing a program whose input andoutput are interleaved, like a conversation, allowing theuser's input to depend on earlier output from the same run.The interaction with the user is usually conducted througheither a text-based interface or a graphical user interface.Other kinds of interface, e.g. using speech recognitionand/or speech synthesis, are also possible.This is in contrast to batch processing where all the inputis prepared before the program runs and so cannot depend onthe program's output.