The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
A command interpreter is an operating system program that understands and executes commands entered by a program or a user. If the command interpreter is used interactively, a response is displayed to the user after each command is executed.
Usage of the command interpreter is often indicated by a prompt symbol and a blinking cursor. When commands are initiated, the command interpreter first checks the syntax to make sure it is valid. If it cannot be validated within an internal operating-system library, an error is displayed. If the command is found in the operating-system library, the command interpreter either executes the command or loads another executable program that can execute the command.
Command interpreters are specific to an operating system. Some are utilities or processes within the operating system, and others are interfaces to the operating system. The command interpreter is also known as the shell in some programming languages.