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Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

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Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#122
post #109

If the target was just "Windows 3.1", he should have built a 32-bit app using the Win32s API [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32s ] It's also probably possible to use a current compiler, maybe clang or gcc, to compile such code (officially only up to VC++ 4.2 is supported), although it might require some hacks.

Win32s applications can be executed on a limited subset of hardware supported by Windows 3.x.

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#124
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qt and to some extent GTK+ come close. GTK+ can be programmed in Vala which is a fine language that transpiles to C and supports idioms such as asynchronous programming.

> Qt and to some extent GTK+ come close Both are C++: developers are more expensive to hire, and stuff takes more time to develop and debug. I'm proficient in C++ (programming for living since 2000), but I wouldn't pick the language for 2D GUIs in 2019. > GTK+ can be programmed in Vala Picking a non-mainstream languages is risky. Harder to find developers. Way more likely to find bugs in the toolchain and these can e…

but I wouldn't pick the language for 2D GUIs in 2019

Which one would you recommend?

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#125
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More seriously, this is an excellent proof-of-concept that a Slack client does not need to use hundreds of MB of RAM and consume most of a modern CPU core to provide its basic functionality. If you’re so sure that this is possible, then where is the Electron competitor which allows us to build cross platform applications like this, with the same levels of productivity and a consistent and decent user interface? No…

Yes, because Slack is one man shop that can’t afford to hire one or two Windows, Mac, and Linux developers.

Actually, s/Slack/Tidal/ if you want to add insult to injury. Electron app for Windows and Mac (but well, nice features overall). However, no Linux build.

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#126
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. But such CDs are tough to locate today.

Borland's compilers had the best documentation. They included a much of the MSDN API reference in their built-in help files.

Yeah Borland was great with docs

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#127
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More seriously, this is an excellent proof-of-concept that a Slack client does not need to use hundreds of MB of RAM and consume most of a modern CPU core to provide its basic functionality. If you’re so sure that this is possible, then where is the Electron competitor which allows us to build cross platform applications like this, with the same levels of productivity and a consistent and decent user interface? No…

What are your criteria for something being an Electron competitor?

It was more or less a rethorical question (I guess that’s why I’m being downvoted), because there is no competitor. If there was, then Electron wouldn’t be so extremely popular in the first place, and we’d see a lot more popular apps made with all the tools mentioned in the other replies to my post.

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because Slack is one man shop that can’t afford to hire one or two Windows, Mac, and Linux developers.

Actually, s/Slack/Tidal/ if you want to add insult to injury. Electron app for Windows and Mac (but well, nice features overall). However, no Linux build.

Slack does have (very-long-time-beta) Linux build[0], though I personally prefer to just use Slack through my browser instead of suffering through an Electron app.

[0] https://slack.com/downloads/linux

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#129
post #55
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expected to be compiled in some kind of VM, not on an actual computer with Windows 3.11 :-). I feel "old-style" documentation is much better than we have now. My most productive _python_ only work times were when I had only the python .hlp file and a _physical_ paper book. What are your impressions?

I still miss the old MSDN offline help system. Once you got the hang of it, most of the time, you could find what you needed right away by typing the right thing in the Index.

Also, putting your cursor on a keyword, hitting F1, and getting the right result immediately. If I let myself I get so frustrated and angry by the massive regressions we've made over the last 20 years.

Re: Building a new Windows 3.1 app in 2019: A Slack Client

#130
> The stack size of a 16-bit program is typically 4-6 KiB with a similar size for the heap. This is smaller than the size of the HTTP reply + JSON returned by Slack!

Maybe this would be a good opportunity to stop for a moment and reflect about whether or not the industry is really moving in the right direction.

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