Functions of Command Interpreter – A Brief Discussion
Command Interpreter – a brief discussion on its functioning
Author: temp_93910
In a software and development specific programming language, a command interpreter is a type of a program that is used to perform a prompt-read-execute process. In simpler terms, the cycle can be explained as follows:
A Prompt gets displayed by the program indicating it is all set to receive input.
The program reads the line of text entered by the programmer.
It then performs the actions described by the programmer’s command and repeats it, if necessary.
Command Interpreters allows you to enter various commands in an efficient way. But, you need to have sufficient knowledge of command names and their parameters as well as the syntax of the programming language that is interpreted.
Command interfaces were used by programmers from the early sixties onwards. In the 1960s, programmers used to interact with computers only by command interfaces. To offer an alternative user-interface for computers, researchers developed graphical user interface in the 1970s. GUIs had more pictorial operations that represented commands rather than textual descriptions. In comparison to command interfaces, graphic user interfaces are easier to learn, and so they are the commonest way to interact with computers. Command interpreters are widely used with GUIs. The main reason is the ineffectiveness of GUIs because of the difficulty to represent every task graphically.
In an offshore software development company, a programmer employs command interpreters in conjunction with GUI for more efficiency. Here are some types of command line interpreters used as a user interface for operating systems:
The COMMAND.COM program used in most versions of MSDOS as well as Windows operating systems (from Windows 95 onwards)
The CMD.exe programs that are part of latest versions of Windows operating systems.
An array of shells available with UNIX like operating system. These shells include sh, bash, csh etc.
Programmers providing software solutions in UK are endowed with the programming skills of constructing command interpreters. They are also expert in using command interpreters in conjunction with GUIs for efficient programming.
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