Automating Things With Batch Files

If you're familiar with MS-DOS at all , you'll recall that it's a command-driven operating system that performs functions issued at the C :> prompt . The only way to get an MS-DOS computer to do something was to type a command at this prompt and if you can imagine , it was a rather cumbersome way to use a computer .
As an example , to load up Microsoft's simple editing program , you had to type the name of the drive that the program was on , the directory that the program was in , and then the name of the program . So if Microsoft Edit was in a directory or folder named "Process ," you could start the program by typing , "C :>process|edit .com" Then , and only then would the program load up for use .
This is a small command , but just imagine if you had a program that was deeply nested within a series of folder . You could end up typing a command as wide as your computer screen or worse , long enough that the entire command would have to wrap onto the next line ! Now imagine having to type these long commands every time that you wanted to start a program . Yikes !
That's one of the reasons why batch files became so popular . Batch files are small text-based documents that contain a bunch of these commands on their own lines . When executed , they would process each command without the user having to type each and every one of them .
When Windows was developed , the need for typing commands was essentially eradicated thanks to