The back-and-forth dialog between user and computer. All software today is interactive except for utility programs that perform routine maintenance. After being started, such programs generally run to completion without human interaction (see
utility program).
Interactive Overkill
In the early 1980s, Alan Freedman, author of this encyclopedia, wrote a request for proposal (RFP) for a client to purchase a new computer system at a time when regular employees were just starting to use terminals on their desks. To ensure there was no ambiguity, he requested a bid for an "online, interactive, real-time, transaction processing system." He wanted to cover all bases. Only "interactive" was necessary. See
RFP and
transaction processing.