This manual describes the system functions, interrupts, and structures of the Microsoft(R) MS-DOS(R) operating system. These features enable MS-DOS programs to use the operating system to carry out tasks such as reading from and writing to files; allocating memory; starting other programs; and using the keyboard, screen, and communications ports.
Topics include overviews of the MS-DOS system functions; a comprehensive reference to the system functions, interrupts, and structures; an explanation of device drivers; and a description of the function interfaces for MS-DOS extensions, such as print spooling, national language support, and task switching.
MS-DOS system functions, interrupts, and structures are designed to be used in assembly-language programs or in assembly-language modules that can be incorporated in C, Pascal, and other high-level-language programs. Therefore, to get the most from this manual, readers should be familiar with the architecture of the 8086 family of microprocessors and have some experience programming in assembly language for the 8086 microprocessor.
Although this manual presents the basic concepts and tasks associated with the system functions, it is not intended to teach programming in the MS-DOS environment. The manual does not provide detailed information about interfaces that are features of a given computer, device adapter, or software extension. For additional resources about MS-DOS and related topics, see Section 1.5, “Further Reading.”