Scheduling Jobs

A job is an operation the processor manages.

A buffer is an area of memory or storage in which items are placed while waiting to be transferred to or form an input or output device.

The operating system commonly uses buffers with print jobs. This process, called spooling, sends print jobs to a buffer instead of spending them immediately to the printer.

Multiple print jobs line up in a queue within the buffer. A program, called print spooler, intercepts print jobs from the operating system and places them in the queue.