The DEBUG.EXE example in my post demonstrates using the E command to enter bytes directly into video memory. While that's certainly one way to use DEBUG.EXE, I'd say it's not the most typical use case.

Back in the day, I primarily used DEBUG.EXE to disassemble existing executables or assemble small programs from scratch. It almost felt like "scripting" in assembly language. If you're curious, I wrote a couple of blog posts in 2002–2003 documenting how I used to do this:

* https://susam.net/programming-with-dos-debugger.html

* https://susam.net/editing-binaries-in-dos.html

I'd love to know if others have similar experiences!