Ask HN: Any way to write a simple desktop app anymore?

A desktop app in Windows only requires an executable. Rust and Zig compile to executables.

Lately I have made efforts to divorce a variety of games for Windows from Steam DRM. I am hosting these games on a Linux file server for ease of access anywhere in the house. I am also using WinLaunch as a front end to map to the game executables so that in one click I can be running a large Windows game from any of my Windows computers.

I use C# with Visual Studio Community.

Typically I use Windows Forms as it is easy and plenty of online help, as it has not changed much since they tried to get rid of it 20 years ago LOL. (specifically Windows Forms App NOT Windows Forms App (.NET Framework))

Works well with SQLite if you need a DB.

Sometimes I just do a console app if it fits the need.

+1 for Winforms unless you're on a *nix platform. Drag and drop, C# (or VB, if you prefer) is easy and flexible, and the app will work on basically any Windows device.

Lazarus is a cross platform Pascal GUI IDE that makes building Windows executables almost trivial. You can also target Linux, etc.