Interactive computing refers to software which accepts input from the user as it runs.

Interactive software includes commonly used programs, such as word processor or spreadsheet application. By comparison, non-interactive programs operate without user intervention; examples of these include compilers and batch processing applications that are pre-programmed to run independently.

Interactive computing focuses on real-time interaction ("dialog") between the computer and the operator, and the technologies that enable them.[3]

If the response of the computer system is complex enough, it is said that the system is conducting social interaction; some systems try to achieve this through the implementation of social interfaces.

The nature of interactive computing as well as its impact on users, are studied extensively in the field of computer interaction.

Interactive computing, on the other hand, emphasized the user’s time and ease of programming; typically, interactive computer systems had only one user at a time, a kind of very early ‘personal computer.’