DOS‐tips: A Word to the WYSE

Oftentimes, a batch file will use the BASIC interpreter to run a BASIC program as part of its operation. Typically, the BASIC program will do some task that's difficult or impossible to do with just DOS commands like COPY and TYPE. Perhaps it conducts a dialog with the user to establish desired parameters before running an applications program. Or it may draw a fancy menu as part of a “DOS shell” system for users. Here's part of a batch file where a BASIC program is used to print out the current date in some special format: