Only one person can use a printer at one time, but it is
uneconomical not to share printers between users. The printer
is therefore managed by software that implements a print
queue: all print jobs are put into a queue and whenever the
printer is done with one job, the next one is sent to it
automatically. This relieves the users from organizing the
print queue and fighting over control of the printer.
The print queue software also spools the printouts on disk, i.e., the text is kept in a file while the job is in the queue. This allows an application program to spit out the print jobs quickly to the print queue software; the application does not have to wait until the job is actually printed to continue. This is really convenient, since it allows one to print out one version, and not have to wait for it to be printed before one can make a completely revised new version.