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PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

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Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#42

One of the good things about Windows is the backwards compat. I know this particular code has been updated in 2021, sure, but in general, you can take binary from early 2000s and it will run on Windows 10 most likely. (OK, games and rich "multimedia CD-ROMs" from that era have problems, but it holds in general.) In linux, it kinda holds, because everything is open-source anyway, but binaries in general are not compat…

Just because you can doesn't mean you should run something that old. I would not want to run a 21 year old native application written in C or C++ from a different era of security consciousness on any modern machine. Certainly not anything connected to the internet--remember that was the hey-day of massive worms that crippled entire networks of machines. If the source hasn't been touched in decades, treat it like an a…

You are aware that not all applications listen to the Internet, or need to, right?

My audio editor (GoldWave) is from 2000. It works fine. I can't even think about what "security consciousness" would be on a software that runs locally and doesn't have (or need) accounts.

Text editors fall into the same category.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#43

I wish there were apps like PSPad and Notepad++ on MacOS. I really did not like any editor I used on this OS. Same with MS paint and the windows calculator.

You can try SciTE, a cross-platform Scintilla-based editor (similar to Notepad++).

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#44
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should run something that old. I would not want to run a 21 year old native application written in C or C++ from a different era of security consciousness on any modern machine. Certainly not anything connected to the internet--remember that was the hey-day of massive worms that crippled entire networks of machines. If the source hasn't been touched in decades, treat it like an a…

You are aware that not all applications listen to the Internet, or need to, right? My audio editor (GoldWave) is from 2000. It works fine. I can't even think about what "security consciousness" would be on a software that runs locally and doesn't have (or need) accounts. Text editors fall into the same category.

It's all fun and games until a rootkit finds a vulnerable executable to elevate privileges and really get going... just one mixed up bound check, missing end of string, etc in 20 year old code and oops!

Don't run any of those old apps as an admin at the very least.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#45

One of the good things about Windows is the backwards compat. I know this particular code has been updated in 2021, sure, but in general, you can take binary from early 2000s and it will run on Windows 10 most likely. (OK, games and rich "multimedia CD-ROMs" from that era have problems, but it holds in general.) In linux, it kinda holds, because everything is open-source anyway, but binaries in general are not compat…

Just because you can doesn't mean you should run something that old. I would not want to run a 21 year old native application written in C or C++ from a different era of security consciousness on any modern machine. Certainly not anything connected to the internet--remember that was the hey-day of massive worms that crippled entire networks of machines. If the source hasn't been touched in decades, treat it like an a…

I'm using Paint Shop Pro 7 as my main image editor[0], it has the best UX of any image editor i've used, was released 21 years ago and i have zero concerns about its security - not because i expect it to be secure (chances are it is using, e.g., a jpeg library with security bugs) but because there isn't any use case where that would matter.

Similarly i use Delphi 2 and C++ Builder (both around 25 years old) now and them for making small utilities (e.g. [1] and [2]) - again no internet connection nor any reason to worry about their security. Also i use Adobe PageMill (21 years old too) as a WYSIWYG word editor and simple site editor (like the sites i linked to) - that one can connect to the internet to upload stuff, but i use a separate (and under development) client for this.

Also aside the possibility for security issues there is also the probability for you to face them: after all just because a program has an issue it doesn't mean you'll encounter it - if anything, nobody is going to spend any time targeting such old software.

[0] https://i.imgur.com/wakdMXK.jpg (random shot i took some time ago)

[1] http://runtimeterror.com/tools/pastepreview/

[2] http://runtimeterror.com/tools/winless/

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#46
That's a name I haven't heard in many a year! Completely forgot it existed.

I used to use this extensively about 15 years ago I think, as it was a very capable free editor. It was one of my go-to installs on windows.

Now ... I don't use windows for much more than gaming.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#47
post #30

Searched for "LSP" and "Language Server Protocol" and did not find any mentions. Unfortunately, I think the programming languages are getting too complex for an editor to try to maintain smart browsing, smart formatting, code completion, etc. Language Server Protocol allows this language work to be done once by people who are generally actively tracking the language. I think in 2021, a programmer's editor without Lan…

Let me tell you about my knives: -A swiss army knife that I always carry, for small fixes, opening packages & bottles (the scissors are amazing). -A small foldable knife for slightly heavier duty or eating on the go. -A bigger foldable knife for outdoors, camping, ang general purpose work. -A rescue knife I keep in an emergency kit, with cord cutter and glass breaker. -A huge chef knife for general cooking. -A small…

I am more of an axe guy myself, though I reckon I rarely use them for cooking :)

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#48

One of the good things about Windows is the backwards compat. I know this particular code has been updated in 2021, sure, but in general, you can take binary from early 2000s and it will run on Windows 10 most likely. (OK, games and rich "multimedia CD-ROMs" from that era have problems, but it holds in general.) In linux, it kinda holds, because everything is open-source anyway, but binaries in general are not compat…

Just because you can doesn't mean you should run something that old. I would not want to run a 21 year old native application written in C or C++ from a different era of security consciousness on any modern machine. Certainly not anything connected to the internet--remember that was the hey-day of massive worms that crippled entire networks of machines. If the source hasn't been touched in decades, treat it like an a…

Not everything is internet connected.

http://www.weitz.de/regex-coach/ -> Regex Coach is a very impressive Windows application I've used for debugging regexes.

> The program hasn't changed since 2008 and this page is also essentially still the same. But I can confirm that in September 2019 the program still works fine for me on Windows 10.

There are many apps like this one and even older apps. Some can be from the early 90's or even late 80's.

The equivalent MacOS app would have been unusable, I imagine, as well as many Linux desktop apps. Especially those before the Great ELF Transition (1996?) as well as those before the Great ABI Breakage (I don't remember the year, it was a major glib change, maybe in 2005?).

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#49
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are aware that not all applications listen to the Internet, or need to, right? My audio editor (GoldWave) is from 2000. It works fine. I can't even think about what "security consciousness" would be on a software that runs locally and doesn't have (or need) accounts. Text editors fall into the same category.

It's all fun and games until a rootkit finds a vulnerable executable to elevate privileges and really get going... just one mixed up bound check, missing end of string, etc in 20 year old code and oops! Don't run any of those old apps as an admin at the very least.

If the said rootkit is already running on my machine, I probably have larger things to worry about than a possible vulnerability in 20-year-old software.

And yeah, there is very rarely a need to run apps as admin anyway.

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