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 .:Introduction to BATch:. |  BATch Zone #1  |
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                .:writen by DvL:.

Short history
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MS-DOS (MicroSoft Disk Operating System) included BATCH processing from 
version 1.0 (August 1981). It was added to help IBM engineers run long 
lists of commands to test MS-DOS on the IBM Personal Computer original 
prototype. The batch language developed steadily through later versions 
of MS-DOS, and is always installed in Windows 95, 98, and ME (but many 
users don't know this).

What's batch ?
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The Batch Language is the set of commands you can use in a batch file.
It's an program language. You type commands to run them immediately or 
you can list them in a text file (a .bat/batch file or "script") to run 
them later. Batch files are basic automated tasks; batch files can be 
used as programs but they aren't programs. The batch files are 
instructions to DOS which you create for your own convenience. Batch 
files are executable files that contain commands that the computer 
will follow.

Purpose
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Daily PC operations are almost unimaginable without the use of batch 
files. Everyone has his favorite collection of them, and some users 
have constructed complex batch files of thousands of bytes that push 
the batch language itself to its limits. Unfortunately, however, 
batch files are also notoriously slow. It can be almost painful to 
watch them scroll down the screen a line at a time.

The 1st batch virus
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Ralf Burger published the world's first known BAT virus in his book 
"Das große Computerviren-Buch" in 1987, calling it VR.BAT. VR.BAT 
did not, however, function purely on DOS batch language, for it used
also machine-language code located in a separate file. Since the virus
destroyed its victim, it generally did not take long for a user to
smell something fishy.


.:Contact:. 

  .:mail:. dvl2003ro@yahoo.co.uk
  .:url:. www.geocities.com/ratty_dvl/BATch/main.htm

  29.05.2003