4 ms·
I started getting into PC programming around 1995 after spending time on the c64 and Amiga, and it was right at that test that DOS extenders became available.
by royjacobs 8y ago
I started getting into PC programming around 1995 after spending time on the c64 and Amiga, and it was right at that test that DOS extenders became available.
DOS4GW was part of the Watcom C compiler, but I seem to recall that Borland Pascal also had some protected mode going on. I'm pleased I've never had to spend too much time with the segmented memory model.
- WalterBright 8y agoDOS extenders were available in the later 1980s.
- JdeBP 8y agoBut xe is nonetheless right that DOS/4GW was part of Watcom C/C++. That's what the "W" at the end means. The full DOS extender was DOS/4G. And Watcom C was available from the middle 1980s, too.
- WalterBright 8y agoZortech C++ came with both a 286 extender and a 386 extender.
- JdeBP 8y agoI don't know off the top of my head whether Watcom C/C++ ever targetted the 16-bit Phar Lap or Rational Systems extenders. It certainly targetted the 32-bit ones, and others besides.
- sehugg 8y agoYep, Borland Pascal 7.0 supported DPMI, but with a 16-bit segmented memory model. I often wonder how the C hegemony would have been affected if BP had a optimizing 32-bit compiler for DOS. IIRC, Doom's use of Watcom C validated that you could write performant games without using very much assembler, but BP wasn't up to the task.