Thread: Simple Novice Question: MS DOS app. a console?

Is the black MS-DOS screen considered a console?

I looked up webopedia.com and got this definition:

A bank of meters and lights indicating a computer's status, and switches that allow an operator to control the computer in some way.

>Is the black MS-DOS screen considered a console?
Yep, though "command line prompt" would be more accurate.

>> A bank of meters and lights indicating a computer's status, and switches that allow an operator to control the computer in some way.

LOL! thats an awesome definition.. though i think it should be updated a little...

like Slacker said you are probably thinking more along the lines of a CLI (command line interface) which is what the DOS prompt is.. however the term console is more commonly used when referring to a CLI...

here is the wiki definitions of Computer Console and CLI

Originally Posted by sunnypalsingh

What is a Console? It is a Window, a special kind, yes, but it is a Window. You will frequently hear these things called "DOS boxes" because DOS had a character based UI, but this term is incorrect. There is no DOS under the NT cored WIndows operating systems, (NT, 2000, XP), and yet you can use a console. Why? Because it is a Window. (There are actually DOS emulators for these platforms - but this is a totally unrelated topic.)

courtsey-adrianwx.dk

A console is not neccessarily a window.. I doesnt have to have anything to do with a window, neither does a CLI.. unless you are calling a monitor a window?? To call a console a window is to move further away from the actual meaning and more towards a way that you would explain it to grandma and grandpa.. IMO..

I prefer to not neccessarily make things as technical as possible, but I do not like to distort their meaning just to explain it easier..

In the context on this forum of referring to console applications, just think of it as a primarily text-based user-interface, whether it has acccess to windows system functions or not, and is characterized by a similarity to DOS's style.

i read the article, and see where you got your definition from..

im still saying that i dont agree with the definition the way it was written..

but either way im sure the OP understands now that a Dos screen is a considered a console..