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Intro to computer science freshman year of high school in 2004 was still using turbo pascal and it was great. Dropping into BGI graphics mode was a great begin

Intro to computer science freshman year of high school in 2004 was still using turbo pascal and it was great. Dropping into BGI graphics mode was a great beginner friendly way to draw shapes and make some cool things. It's what got me into game development in earnest. I wish I could get this same setup to teach people with but BGI doesn't work in later versions of Windows.

rpeden 9y ago
I think BGI graphics will still work in DOSBox. I remember having a setup a couple of years ago where I shared a directory between Windows and DOSBox. I'd edit the code in Windows using Sublime Text, and then pop in to DOSBox to build/run it. So although it doesn't quite make BGI graphics based apps run directly on Windows...it's still quick and easy enough to have some fun. I did it specifically to give myself a way to make programming fun again at a time when I was feeling a bit burned out from working on massive, overly complex C# and JavaScript code all day at the office.
- vram22 9y ago
  Turbo Pascal is, or at least until some time ago, was, also available from the Borland/Codegear/Embarcadero (hat tip to often useless or destructive M&A) Museum (along with other historical software from them, like Turbo C and so on). I had downloaded TP and TC from the Museum and tried them out a bit again some time ago, for old times' sake. Worked okay, IIRC, but I may have only used them for CLI work, not for BGI graphics. Worth a try though, for BGI, even on Windows, without installing DOSBox. Update: Here is the link to the Museum: http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/antiquesoftware http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/antiquesoftware
  - vram22 9y ago
    Note: I should mention that, like it happens on many sites, the links sometimes do not work, or are broken. Caveat lector.
pjmlp 9y ago
This is why C++ standard folks want a simple basic 2D library available as part of the standard. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2017/p0267r5.pdf http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2017/p026...
vram22 9y ago
I wrote a ton of simple graphics programs in Turbo Pascal for fun, many of them related to math equations, generating curves from formulae, etc. Good fun. Still remember functions like HiRes; GotoXy(x, y) and the like :) It was a very productive environment and enabled very high speed of development.

rpeden 9y ago

I think BGI graphics will still work in DOSBox. I remember having a setup a couple of years ago where I shared a directory between Windows and DOSBox. I'd edit the code in Windows using Sublime Text, and then pop in to DOSBox to build/run it. So although it doesn't quite make BGI graphics based apps run directly on Windows...it's still quick and easy enough to have some fun. I did it specifically to give myself a way to make programming fun again at a time when I was feeling a bit burned out from working on massive, overly complex C# and JavaScript code all day at the office.

vram22 9y ago
Turbo Pascal is, or at least until some time ago, was, also available from the Borland/Codegear/Embarcadero (hat tip to often useless or destructive M&A) Museum (along with other historical software from them, like Turbo C and so on). I had downloaded TP and TC from the Museum and tried them out a bit again some time ago, for old times' sake. Worked okay, IIRC, but I may have only used them for CLI work, not for BGI graphics. Worth a try though, for BGI, even on Windows, without installing DOSBox. Update: Here is the link to the Museum: http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/antiquesoftware http://edn.embarcadero.com/museum/antiquesoftware
- vram22 9y ago
  Note: I should mention that, like it happens on many sites, the links sometimes do not work, or are broken. Caveat lector.

pjmlp 9y ago

This is why C++ standard folks want a simple basic 2D library available as part of the standard. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2017/p0267r5.pdf http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2017/p026...

vram22 9y ago

I wrote a ton of simple graphics programs in Turbo Pascal for fun, many of them related to math equations, generating curves from formulae, etc. Good fun. Still remember functions like HiRes; GotoXy(x, y) and the like :) It was a very productive environment and enabled very high speed of development.