SharePoint can be accessed via the following ways programatically:

1. SharePoint object model

2. SharePoint web services

3. RPC

 SharePoint GUI or web interface have corresponding batch / command line approach.  These batch style commands will be used in most cases of setup batch process of SharePoint operations probably everything you can think of doing with web or GUI interfaces with numerous number of parameters.

1. SharePoint installation process --> Setup.exe

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a59c4e8f-9b7f-4127-8199-1b9ab76991501033.mspx?mfr=true

2. SharePoint Central administration --> STSADM.exe (located in %PROGRAMFILES%\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin folder)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a59c4e8f-9b7f-4127-8199-1b9ab76991501033.mspx?mfr=true

3. SharePoint configuration wizard --> PSConfig.exe

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a59c4e8f-9b7f-4127-8199-1b9ab76991501033.mspx?mfr=true