Batch files are little programs that we mortals can write for ourselves. Because they are created by you and me, batch files have to be in human readable form so we can understand what we are doing.
Batch files consist entirely of letters, numbers and symb ols that humans can read and understand.
To understand batch files you have to know a little bit about files in general. The .COM and .EXE extensions indicate program files that have been translated from sourc e code into machine language by a compiler and are stored in binary format. Compiled program files don't need to be interpreted by DOS at exe cution time as Batch files do. In other words, batch files are interpreted at execution time rather than compiled beforehand. Eight special batch file commands - Call, Choice, Echo, For, Goto, If, Pause, Rem, and Shift.