Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

pe101.corkami.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 35 posts

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#2

Post by pud »

One of the things that's held back Windows and made it so complex, according to an MS engineer I recently spoke with who's been with the company since the 80's, is that it contains thousands of pieces of code to fix bugs in third-party software.

In other words, there's code in Windows 7 that prevents crashing due to a rare bug in Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego v1.3 (hypothetical example). And so on.

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#3

Post by quotemstr »

pud wrote: post #2

One of the things that's held back Windows and made it so complex, according to an MS engineer I recently spoke with who's been with the company since the 80's, is that it contains thousands of pieces of code to fix bugs in third-party software. In other words, there's code in Windows 7 that prevents crashing due to a rare bug in Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego v1.3 (hypothetical example). And so on.

Relevant Old New Thing post: "The real cost of compatibility is not in the hacks; the hacks are small potatoes"

(The Old New Thing is a blog by veteran Microsoft shell team developer Raymond Chen, and it's a must-read for all developers.)

https://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/07/23/4003...

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#5

Post by rburhum »

quotemstr wrote: post #3
pud wrote: post #2

One of the things that's held back Windows and made it so complex, according to an MS engineer I recently spoke with who's been with the company since the 80's, is that it contains thousands of pieces of code to fix bugs in third-party software. In other words, there's code in Windows 7 that prevents crashing due to a rare bug in Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego v1.3 (hypothetical example). And so on.

Relevant Old New Thing post: "The real cost of compatibility is not in the hacks; the hacks are small potatoes" (The Old New Thing is a blog by veteran Microsoft shell team developer Raymond Chen, and it's a must-read for all developers.) https://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/07/23/4003...

"a must read" for all Windows developers.

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#7

Post by jpxxx »

rburhum wrote: post #5
quotemstr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevant Old New Thing post: "The real cost of compatibility is not in the hacks; the hacks are small potatoes" (The Old New Thing is a blog by veteran Microsoft shell team developer Raymond Chen, and it's a must-read for all developers.) https://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/07/23/4003...

"a must read" for all Windows developers.

Not just Windows developers.

Microsoft Office for Mac v.X was released on November 19, 2001. It ran without incident for a decade on the latest and best Macs that money could buy through July 20, 2011. This was not by happenstance.

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#8

Post by someone13 »

rburhum wrote: post #5
quotemstr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevant Old New Thing post: "The real cost of compatibility is not in the hacks; the hacks are small potatoes" (The Old New Thing is a blog by veteran Microsoft shell team developer Raymond Chen, and it's a must-read for all developers.) https://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/07/23/4003...

"a must read" for all Windows developers.

Actually, I think it's a good read for all developers, irrespective of platform. The underlying message of the post above is relevant to anyone writing something that interfaces with third-party code. Not to mention, it's a good look into how one of the larger software companies approaches compatibility.

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#9

Post by nodata »

pud wrote: post #2

One of the things that's held back Windows and made it so complex, according to an MS engineer I recently spoke with who's been with the company since the 80's, is that it contains thousands of pieces of code to fix bugs in third-party software. In other words, there's code in Windows 7 that prevents crashing due to a rare bug in Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego v1.3 (hypothetical example). And so on.

> One of the things that's held back Windows

It's also one of the things that's kept Windows strong.

Re: Windows Executable Walkthrough Graphic

#10

Post by pjmlp »

rburhum wrote: post #5
quotemstr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevant Old New Thing post: "The real cost of compatibility is not in the hacks; the hacks are small potatoes" (The Old New Thing is a blog by veteran Microsoft shell team developer Raymond Chen, and it's a must-read for all developers.) https://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/07/23/4003...

"a must read" for all Windows developers.

Other operating systems have similar issues as well.
Post reply on HN