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Because DOS is a disk OS and BASIC is an interpreted programming language. The point of DOS isn't just the command line. It provides a set of standard abstract
by TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
Because DOS is a disk OS and BASIC is an interpreted programming language.
The point of DOS isn't just the command line. It provides a set of standard abstracted system calls that can be used by any developer working in any language with a compatible compiler, including assembler, to create any application.
A command line interpreter sits on top of the library for immediate use, but that's just the part the user sees. The meat of DOS is the function library.
BASIC doesn't work like that. It is an application, and other software can't access its commands from outside. It was never designed to allow that, and extending to it to make it possible would have created a confusing, slow, inefficient, and unreliable mess.
- icedchai 3y agoStill, many 8-bit micros extended BASIC to provide a "shell" for their DOS equivalent. For example, the Apple II with both ProDOS and DOS 3.3. There was still an underlying DOS library. It would've made sense for the PC to do the same, given all the contemporary 8-bit systems.