Hi, I am very new and before I start programming I need to know what tools I need to use. I read in the tutorial something about a console program. Could someone please explain to me what this is? It also says the way to edit and compile a program depends on the compiler you are using. Can anyone suggest a good compiler to use?
Not technically.
All versions of DOS are operating systems. "An operating system is the software component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer."
A virtual console is a virtual device for (mainly) text I/O. It is an essential part of any OS, but not an OS per se.
I know of no OS without a console. Yes, XP has a DOS-like terminal emulator called cmd.exe. It can be executed by pressing Windows key+R, "cmd".
Not part of the OS still, it's just run within a separate container. That was one of the big "advantages" of going to Win32. ME was a half-implementation, which was why it was terribly unstable.
Win3.1, 95, 98, Unix, Linux and OSX all have Consoles as a basis for the OS.