You know what code I'd be really keen to read? Apple's or Microsoft's code from the late 1980s! Preferably Apple's.
It must have taken some really clever programming to get decent graphics on such limited machines! I want to see it!
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@alcinnz Here you go:
@mathew @alcinnz
This is the original release, for anyone not wanting to violate the spirit of the Apple-CHM agreement to do so.
https://computerhistory.org/blog/macpaint-and-quickdraw-source-code/
@bitsavers @mathew @alcinnz if y'all want I've also got an implementation of several QuickDraw concepts such as regions and arcs in JavaScript that I'm happy to share, it's a WIP but in your hands it might be fun to mess with
@mathew @alcinnz Apparently the MacPaint source code was released at the same time: https://computerhistory.org/blog/macpaint-and-quickdraw-source-code/
@alcinnz I'd argue that much like video games, we remember them being far better than they were, but see also Amiga.
@mikebabcock Hey I wasn't trying to suggest that computers were better back then, I was suggesting that it was harder for them to be good!
Though from my reading there's a bit of a distinction to be had with Amiga here: The IBM PCs Microsoft was targeting barely had a graphics chip, Apple omitted them entirely initially.
Amiga had more acceleration.
@alcinnz sorry my response was probably too terse. I just meant that we have rose coloured glasses until we actually boot old hardware and go "oh yeah, the gui sucked on these."
(As someone who ran various non-Windows GUIs before succumbing to Windows 3.1 then 95, 98 and finally X11 on Linux)
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSX-32
#OperatingSystem #OS #Linux #Windows#GUI#Computing#oldPerson
(As someone who ran various non-Windows GUIs before succumbing to Windows 3.1 then 95, 98 and finally X11 on Linux)
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSX-32
#OperatingSystem #OS #Linux #Windows#GUI#Computing#oldPerson
@mikebabcock Yeah, we tend to remember the best of the past. Forgetting anything that was mediocre.
And we didn't notice the lack of modern conveniences. So we forget that we didn't have them.
@alcinnz like, for example, MacApp code referenced in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns?wprov=sfla1, but the full code base? ❤️
@andrija Hmmmm, I've got a copy...
@alcinnz
There were plenty of X based workstations around back then. I used them daily.
The X server code should be available for some at least.
@alcinnz
Microsoft has released the source code of several versions of MS-Dos, up to version 4:
https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
I read through some of the source code for the early releases and it was pretty primitive, especially in the area of error-checking. Given the memory constraints and the fact that it was all hand-coded in x86 assembler, that's to be expected. The code seemed about as tight as it could be without getting tricksy and unmaintainable.
I don't think Microsoft has released the source code of its graphical code from the same era.
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