BRUCE CLARK wrote to JAMES BRADLEY, "Batch file" on 07-04-05 23:02

 -=> Quoting James Bradley to Jean Parrot <=-

 BC> Sounds like LONG AGO when I was running aprox 60 megs of programs
 BC> and data on a 40 meg hard drive.
 BC> All but the most used programs were kept in ZIP archives, and run
 BC> from BAT files to unzip them, then update the archive before
 BC> deleting the directory.

In a time, long long ago, in a place far far away... 

But, in a time of necessity, we found ways to circumvent the space
issues, and until the "self extracting archive" ability to most
compressors today, batch file 'programming' was a way to prevent
typos, and offloaded the need to remember yet another archaic command
and its switches.

Guys that ran their (de)compressors by hand baffled me. "Why not write
 a zip.bat, or at least modify the environment?"

I never did understand their logic, but that they were suckers for
 punishment, or had too much time on their hands/notes on their desks.

 JB> Oh, you'd be surprized! Save or create a text file called
"e.bat" on
 JB> your desktop. In that file type the word "exit" and make
sure there's
 JB> a carridge return at the end. Save the file as a text file, and you're
 JB> a batch file programer!

 JB> (We used an environment variable called a PATH statement, where you
 JB> could congregate all your utilities, and batch files, but I suspect
 JB> the desctop would be just as convenient. )

 JB> Now, when you have "shelled to the OS", you can stop that
by involking
 JB> "e" and that will type "exit" for you.
Likewise, I have a batch file
 JB> that:

 JB> d:
 JB> cd\w
 JB> win.com

 JB> and I call it "C:\bat\w.bat". "C:\bat" is in my
PATH, and the first
 JB> place DOS looks for my executable files. When I'm tooling around in
 JB> the CLI, and I want to start Windows, I type "w", to change to the
 JB> drive, change to the directory, and then start "win.com" all by the
 JB> batch file.

 JB> Dead simple, and massivly handy. If I have DOS games I'd like to play,
 JB> I have one "games.bat" file that then calls other batch files to
 JB> change to different directories under my games directory, then execute
 JB> the game proper. Once I stop the game, it goes back to the
"games.bat"
 JB> file asking if I'd like to play a different game, or stop the file.



 BC> ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
 BC> --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5a

... James
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.46

--- Maximus 3.01