DOS or not? [was Re: How to tell Script to use pythonw.exe ?]

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 5:34 PM, Tim Golden <mail at timgolden.me.uk> wrote:
> On 03/07/2013 02:34, Andrew Berg wrote:
>> DOS is long
>> dead, and is much, much different under the hood from the console
>> subsystem in modern versions of Windows.
>
>
> While this is clearly true, it's by no means unusual for people to refer
> to the "DOS Box" or talk about "DOS commands" etc. even when they're
> quite well aware of the history of Windows and its Console subsystem.
> It's just quicker than saying "Console Window" or something.
>
> I mention this because it seems to get called out every time someone
> uses the term "DOS" on this and other Python lists and it can smack
> slightly of pedantry.

I would avoid the term "DOS Box" in reference to cmd.exe though,
because DOSBox is an emulator. (Also because I have an OS/2 heritage,
where a DOS Window is command.com in a virtual x86 windowed session,
while an OS/2 Window is the native OS/2 command interpreter.)

But in general usage, calling them "DOS commands" is sloppy but
unambiguous. I wouldn't be concerned one way or the other.

ChrisA