2022-12-27

Bought the third edition of Petzold's "Programming Windows" from a charity shop, because I once gave away my copy of the fifth edition and so I felt it was a sign I should not pass up. That said: I also have the fifth edition, so the third is an historical artifact. (i.e. it's literally for Windows 3.1 although that's basically still how Win32 programming works even today).

This lead me down an unproductive rabbit-hole of looking into Windows NT 3.1 through 3.51 software development, and if I could emulate an environment and make binaries that work from 3.1 through to Windows 10.

I'm at a very specific place when it comes to nostalgia for computers:

• Windows 3.1 aesthetic, not Windows 95.

• But! Quake, not Doom.

• IPX/SPX LAN on thin coax ethernet, not dial-up multi-player.

• System 6 on an SE/30, not OS9 on an iMac.

I don't know what to do with this information, but I've noticed that many retro accounts on Youtube and on social media are obsessed with the Doom and DOS era -- slide right over 3.1 -- and into Windows 95.

Joshua Stein is absolutely doing amazing work with System 6 on Compact Macs, though.

=> https://jcs.org/