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FDATE has been retired and is no longer available. |
Why was Fdate retired?
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Fdate had become obsolete.
We now live in a 32-bit world. Fdate was a 16-bit application written in Turbo Pascal. Being a 16-bit application in a 32-bit world was a handicap. Under some circumstances, it carried a performance penalty. It also meant that Fdate could not process long filenames (that is, filenames in anything other than the old DOS 8.3 format).
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Batch files have become obsolete.
First of all, it is important to realize that when you write batch files, you are actually writing programs or scripts in a scripting language -- we can call it BatchFileLanguage or BFL.
BFL, as a scripting language, is grossly underpowered. Its control structures are primitive. Its builtin capabilties are limited. It is not object-oriented. Today, with a number of good free and open-source scripting languages available, there is no reason for anyone to continue using batch files.
Learn a good scripting language. It is not that difficult. You will be happy you did.
What scripting language should I learn?
There are may free and open-source scripting languages available. Notable ones include Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, and Tcl.
For you, as a (former) BFL scripter, I recommend Python.
Python, like the other scripting languages that I mentioned, is powerful, free, well-documented, and runs on virtually every platform in existence (including Windows).
What sets Python apart is ease of learning and ease of use. If you are looking to move up from BFL, Python is your best choice. You can learn enough Python to actually be able to do useful things in a reasonable amount of time.
Where can I find out more about Python?
A good place to start is http://pythonology.org.
The official Python web site is http://www.python.org.
How do I get started using Python?
Basically, you just download and install it. The install process is quite simple.
The downloads page is http://www.python.org/download/.
Can you recommend a good book to help me learn Python?
There are many books available to help you learn Python. A good place to start is this list at Amazon.com
Fdate was really good for working with dates and with files. How can I use Python to do some of the things that I used Fdate to do?
Try pyfdate.