User interfaces
A user interface is the method by which the user and the computer exchange information and instructions. There are three main types - command-line, menu driven and graphical user interface (GUI).
Command-line interfaces
A command-line interface allows the user to interact with the computer by typing in An instruction given to a computer.. The computer displays a prompt, the user keys in the command and presses enter or return.
In the early days of personal computers, all PCs used command-line interfaces.
Features of a command-line interface
- Commands must be typed correctly and in the right order or the command will not work.
- Experienced users who know the commands can work very quickly without having to find their way around menus.
- An advantage of command driven Sequences of instructions for a computer. is that they do not need the The part of a computer that stores data. and A measurement of a processor's ability to process instructions - the greater its power, the faster it processes instructions. of the latest computer and will often run on lower spec machines.
- Command driven programs do not need to run in Microsoft's brand of operating systems, eg Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows Vista, etc..
- A command-line interface can run many programs, for example a batch file could launch half a dozen programs to do its task.
- An inexperienced user can sometimes find a command driven program difficult to use because of the number of commands that have to be learnt.
An example of a common command driven interface is MS-DOS. The MS-DOS command to display all files on c:\ would be: dir c:\