my first free application TurboC Patcher :)

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10-02-2011
Masterx

my first free application TurboC Patcher :)

Hey guys .
i thought it could be a good idea to post this here . to get any feedback suggestions or criticism :)
TurboC patcher will install and run or fix any existing TC ( yeah ancient DOS version :wink:) on your windows vista or 7 ( x86 - x64 ) .
with this people - specially students which are taught c/C++ programming with TC , has no problem of running turbo c on their windows machines , they no more need vmware, VirtualBox , or DOSBOX to run their TC .
this application will do it all for them .
This program uses a customized version of DOSBox emulator as its internal simulation engine , and so installing this program wont mess up your DOSBox installation or configuration :)

here is how the program looks :

http://ustmb.ir/Projects/TurbocPatcher/MainWindow.JPG

Advanced Mode :

http://ustmb.ir/Projects/TurbocPatcher/advancedMode.JPG

here is the link to download :
http://ustmb.ir/Projects/TurboC_Fixer_Installer.exe

Remember : Under Windows Vista and 7 , Run the application as Administrator for a successful installation :)

Please have look and tell me what you see , its good , bad , sucks or what ever :)
you are all welcome
10-02-2011
phantomotap

O_o

I fully expected something that deleted "Turbo C" and installed "GCC" it its place. ^_^

Soma
10-02-2011
laserlight

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

TurboC patcher will install and run or fix any existing TC

I have a feature request: please fix any existing TC installation by uninstalling it. The user should be provided a means to select a more updated compiler toolchain to install. Thanks!
10-02-2011
Masterx

Quote:

O_o

I fully expected something that deleted "Turbo C" and installed "GCC" it its place. ^_^

Soma

the idea is to help compile old codes , the new compiler as you know wont compile DOS areas source codes :) ( you know that for sure , and i said the reason below ,that why i create this )
the idea behind such app is just to provide compatibility for old source codes for Those who for any kind of reasons need to compile them :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserlight

I have a feature request: please fix any existing TC installation by uninstalling it. The user should be provided a means to select a more updated compiler toolchain to install. Thanks!

Thanks :biggrin: , i know TC is dead and should be dead . i myself dont use it .
this is just a wrapper for emulating dos and those who want to test or i dont know let their kids play their made game back in DOS days in the new environment .
this in no way is an implication of forgetting about the new and cool compilers and stick to old ancient ones . its just a means for those who for some reasons need to run that ancient tools :)
---------------------------
with CodeBlocks or DevC++ ready (and compilers they have pre installed ) , there is no need for me to create such a thing , if any users wanted a new compiler , there are everywhere , even Borland releases his C++ compiler (v5?) for free let alone opensource counter parts , or even Microsofts VC++ express edition .
:)
10-02-2011
whiteflags

I'm sorry but I have a tremendous lack of faith in you. Even though you say it's just for compiling old code, that means basically nothing. Does it look at modification dates in the source or something to prevent people from time traveling and compiling their 2011 assignments way back in like 1995?
10-03-2011
CommonTater

Good lord... what a waste of perfectly good code.

Here's a hint for you... Pelles C is a 32/64 bit compiler that includes all the Turbo C libraries as well as the C-99 standard libraries. Everything is clearly identified as to standards compliance or not... and it will compile most Turbo C programs with only minor changes.

And, yes, it can recompile Tubo C code as a 32 or 64bit executable... no stupid DosBox required.

Why are you messing with stone age crap when you can upgrade to an up to date, standards compliant language for free?
10-03-2011
Fordy

Where's the source code?

You'd have to pretty mentally challenged to download this from some forum and run it without fear of some sort of infection.

Then again if a supposed infection trashes a computer & reduces the number of Turbo-C enthusiasts on the web then there may be a sort of Darwinist merit to such a plan.
10-03-2011
Masterx

Quote:

I'm sorry but I have a tremendous lack of faith in you. Even though you say it's just for compiling old code, that means basically nothing. Does it look at modification dates in the source or something to prevent people from time traveling and compiling their 2011 assignments way back in like 1995?

what can i say ? :) . i really told you my real intention :) .

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Good lord... what a waste of perfectly good code.

Here's a hint for you... Pelles C is a 32/64 bit compiler that includes all the Turbo C libraries as well as the C-99 standard libraries. Everything is clearly identified as to standards compliance or not... and it will compile most Turbo C programs with only minor changes.

And, yes, it can recompile Tubo C code as a 32 or 64bit executable... no stupid DosBox required.

Why are you messing with stone age crap when you can upgrade to an up to date, standards compliant language for free?

thanks :)
the reason i stated this project , was that in our university they used to teach students C++ programming in the old fashion ( the c90 standard ) and thus they needed TurboC for their job . they mostely worked on graphics and thats why they couldnt easily switch to c99 standard . because that would scare students ( those ugly and complex uses of apis and stuff ) . so they stuck to it till the university HQ ordered they Upgrade all of lab computers, with the new Windows 7 , TC wouldnt run , they were to choose , Visual C++ or TC under Vmware or Virtual Box .!
they voted for TC and vmware ! there i came in and suggested this to make them hassle free!
so thats just it . as simple as this . it doesnt has anything to do with promoting the deprecated TC or stuff , its just there for them :)
:)
10-03-2011
laserlight

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

they mostely worked on graphics and thats why they couldnt easily switch to c99 standard . because that would scare students ( those ugly and complex uses of apis and stuff ) . so they stuck to it till the university HQ ordered they Upgrade all of lab computers, with the new Windows 7 , TC wouldnt run , they were to choose , Visual C++ or TC under Vmware or Virtual Box .!
they voted for TC and vmware !

Tragic. Even more tragic is if the version of MSVC they were considering was MSVC6.
10-03-2011
Masterx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy

Where's the source code?

You'd have to pretty mentally challenged to download this from some forum and run it without fear of some sort of infection.

Then again if a supposed infection trashes a computer & reduces the number of Turbo-C enthusiasts on the web then there may be a sort of Darwinist merit to such a plan.

lol man :) , i fear giving out the source , cuz i think its not elegant or even close to it , just a sloppy coding style with sloppy codes :)
10-03-2011
Masterx

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserlight

Tragic. Even more tragic is if the version of MSVC they were considering was MSVC6.

yes indeed . and they only do this to C++, ! and mostly they are used for the freshmen . (first semester students ) . and i meant Visual C++ 9 .
their problem is mainly because of the graphics library they use to teach the students . i suggested them to write a class which would contain all of dos like method names , so that students can code in VC or any new IDE with new compilers . but they rejected it too. so i thought , all in all , having everything considered , it would be the best worst decision to make :)
10-03-2011
Fordy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

yes indeed . and they only do this to C++, ! and mostly they are used for the freshmen . (first semester students ) . and i meant Visual C++ 9 .
there problem is mainly because of the graphics library they use to teach the students . i suggested them to write a class which would contain all of dos like method names , so that students can code in VC or any new IDE with new compilers . but they rejected it too. so i thought , all in all , having everything considered , it would be the best worst decision to make :)

If that's a general level of how things are done in programming related degrees then I'm glad I didnt bother (http://cboard.cprogramming.com/gener...orth-cash.html)

When I studied finance, one of the textbooks (a weighty 600 page A4 tome) that was updated each year was partially out of date by the time you used it (different accounting standards are released all the time and they almost always replace anything on the same subject). You couldn't feign ignorance of recent developments so you had to supplement the text you had with downloads of recent changes and amendments from the national examiner's site or accounting standard body.

Thinking of a class of budding engineers sitting there coding with non-standard apis for a platform that died before grunge music is a sad indictment.
10-03-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

the reason i stated this project , was that in our university they used to teach students C++ programming in the old fashion ( the c90 standard ) and thus they needed TurboC for their job . they mostely worked on graphics and thats why they couldnt easily switch to c99 standard . because that would scare students ( those ugly and complex uses of apis and stuff ) . so they stuck to it till the university HQ ordered they Upgrade all of lab computers, with the new Windows 7 , TC wouldnt run , they were to choose , Visual C++ or TC under Vmware or Virtual Box .!
they voted for TC and vmware ! there i came in and suggested this to make them hassle free!
so thats just it . as simple as this . it doesnt has anything to do with promoting the deprecated TC or stuff , its just there for them :)
:)

If it's only for the students of one bassackwards university, why promote it here? It seems as though you are promoting the continued use of an antiquity for reasons that clearly don't make a lot of sense. Were I to read this another way, I might form the impression that the *teachers* are the ones scared by the new standards and just plain too lazy to upgrade their own skills and curriculum to embrace them.... at their student's expense.

Supporting something this bent is clearly a mistake.
10-03-2011
MK27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy

a platform that died before grunge music is a sad indictment.

GRUNGE MUSIC IS DEAD??!!? G'dam, nobody tells me anything anymore...probably I should get rid of my Kim Thayil action dolls.
10-03-2011
Fordy

Quote:

Originally Posted by MK27

GRUNGE MUSIC IS DEAD??!!? G'dam, nobody tells me anything anymore...probably I should get rid of my Kim Thayil action dolls.

Died with Layne, man. RIP.
10-03-2011
VirtualAce

The only thing more dead than grunge music is...um...Turbo C.
10-03-2011
quzah

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirtualAce

The only thing more dead than grunge music is...um...Turbo C.

You wouldn't know it from reading the C forum. :D

Quzah.
10-04-2011
Masterx

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

If it's only for the students of one bassackwards university, why promote it here? It seems as though you are promoting the continued use of an antiquity for reasons that clearly don't make a lot of sense. Were I to read this another way, I might form the impression that the *teachers* are the ones scared by the new standards and just plain too lazy to upgrade their own skills and curriculum to embrace them.... at their student's expense.

Supporting something this bent is clearly a mistake.

mind if i start with the second part? :)
i think its pretty much it . if they were professional in the new standards they wouldn't have had this much of problems . where i live , they still continue to print out books with C90 standards !. students are barely eager to buy books like Deitel and Deitels C++ how to program,books due to its price , mostly ( more than 80~90 percent) just want to pass the C++ course and they go and buy these cheap 5 to 7 $ c90 standard based books . so technically the teachers are more tempted to go use TC cuz the majority of books out there are still teaching C++ in TC !! . only a small fraction of students go read new C++ books (just because of their interest in the language itself or embarking on a new C++ project which needs to be used with the latest technologies) , and also mostly those knowing English and those who are active in forums like cprogramming boards .
i am myself one of those students who started my activities in this board back in 2007 knowing absolutely nothing , and i clearly remember the laiserlight and matsp and others telling me to get ride of TC (and the headache i gave them!), i even didnt know the difference between a compiler and an IDE! and yes i found about new C++ here . and the likes of me , in where i study are really small in numbers!
all in all you can now see why i programed such a thing .
and for the first part :
i think i already answered it :)

and it is sad , but mostly , in my country , students dont use C++, they are more eager to use Vb, C# , VB.net and the likes , and thats why C++ is stuck at TC and C90 standards !
and by the way here is the app at softpedia :D
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Program...-Patcher.shtml
10-04-2011
Elysia

Your program hardly helps students embrace the new standard.
If a university needs to use TC(++) for some reason, then fine, develop the program for them and let them use it.
But for the love of the gods, don't spread it on the web. Turbo C(++) is poison and should be treated as such. No excuses.
10-04-2011
Mario F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

and it is sad , but mostly , in my country , students dont use C++, they are more eager to use Vb, C# , VB.net and the likes , and thats why C++ is stuck at TC and C90 standards !

Not that you are doing anything to stop that.

I don't think you've understood yet the full meaning of what is being said to you on this thread.
10-04-2011
Masterx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysia

Your program hardly helps students embrace the new standard.
If a university needs to use TC(++) for some reason, then fine, develop the program for them and let them use it.
But for the love of the gods, don't spread it on the web. Turbo C(++) is poison and should be treated as such. No excuses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Not that you are doing anything to stop that.

I don't think you've understood yet the full meaning of what is being said to you on this thread.

Ok :) i stop further development of this evil program :)
any idea what to start instead ?
10-04-2011
Fordy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

Ok :) i stop further development of this evil program :)
any idea what to start instead ?

Want to help the students? Write a parser that goes through all that old code and flags outdated functions and practices, suggesting an alternative or writing a custom function for a newer compiler that will provide similar functionality.
10-04-2011
Masterx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy

Want to help the students? Write a parser that goes through all that old code and flags outdated functions and practices, suggesting an alternative or writing a custom function for a newer compiler that will provide similar functionality.

Thank you :) , that sounds like a good idea :) , but it also seems to be demanding . :)
thanks again
10-04-2011
brewbuck

It's really sad to see people writing crap like "Turbo C++ is poison." It was an incredibly good compiler in its time. It is now out of date, that is all.

Funny how people love to pedantically point out that an integer isn't always 32 bits, for instance, then when presented with an example of a compiler that actually HAS integers that aren't 32 bits, they freak out like the compiler has AIDS or something. Anybody doing serious C development in the DOS days was using Turbo C++, period.

Any program that does anything real will, at some point, make use of stuff outside the C standard. The C language itself was invented in order to write the UNIX kernel, which makes use of exactly NOTHING from the C standard library.

As long as people clearly understand that Turbo C++ is from the past, and things are different now, I see no reason to freak out about it.
10-04-2011
MacNilly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy

Want to help the students? Write a parser that goes through all that old code and flags outdated functions and practices, suggesting an alternative or writing a custom function for a newer compiler that will provide similar functionality.

Wow, that is a great idea!

Off the top of my head:

void main()
getch()
gotoxy()
anything from Turbo C
gets
system("pause")
...etc

Once Masterx has the final version implemented and tested, we can install it on the website and preprocess all newly posted code. If its not up to snuff, dont allow the post. :p
10-04-2011
VirtualAce

Quote:

It's really sad to see people writing crap like "Turbo C++ is poison."

Agreed. It was one of the first available C++ compilers and Borland did a great job with it. I think this thread is talking about Turbo C which came out using the same IDE but long before the C++ version. It's fun to joke about it but it was a good compiler in its day. The irony of the thread though is that the free compilers out there today are obviously vastly superior to those compilers now. Why anyone would waste time with the older versions is beyond me.
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirtualAce

Agreed. It was one of the first available C++ compilers and Borland did a great job with it. I think this thread is talking about Turbo C which came out using the same IDE but long before the C++ version. It's fun to joke about it but it was a good compiler in its day. The irony of the thread though is that the free compilers out there today are obviously vastly superior to those compilers now. Why anyone would waste time with the older versions is beyond me.

Ok, you're a first year CS or Engineering student, your teacher is handing out CDs or even floppies with this nifty tool called a compiler. Up to that moment you had no idea how programs were created ... and you didn't really care. In some cases you may not even know how to operate the computer, never mind suddenly writing programs...

Are you in any position to judge the *quality* of the education you are about to receive?

While I will grant that a lot of the stuff from Turbo C does apply to other compilers and the core principles are the same no matter what language or compiler, the fact remains that when Teach is handing out 20 year old compilers, designed for operating systems that no longer exist he is effectively sabotaging his student's futures from day 1 of the course... With rare exception, the students are none the wiser, until years later when they discover their expensive and often difficult educations leave them sitting on the unemployment line wondering what went wrong...

The reaction we see so often --defending an antiquity-- is, likely as not, a defensive reaction to discovering just how badly behind the times their schools realy are... What we DO NOT need is software to enable an education that is fast undermining entire professions.

I happen to agree that TC and TC++ were pretty impressive in their days. I remember trying them out and moving over to Turbo Pascal because (at the time) I liked the syntax better and it had real strings... I found nothing wrong with them -- *at the time*. But things have changed rather a lot and this is no longer true. Borland killed Pascal by dumping Delphi all over it. Computer technology changed. Operating Systems got better... The old software's day is come and gone... decades ago, in the case of Borland products.

It's time to retire the old guy... bring in the new guy.
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterx

Thank you :) , that sounds like a good idea :) , but it also seems to be demanding . :)
thanks again

Nobody ever said programming is easy.
10-05-2011
laserlight

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Nobody ever said programming is easy.

Hmm... a quick search of the Web shows that this guy said programming is easy: Programming is Easy, Software Development is Hard :)
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy

Want to help the students? Write a parser that goes through all that old code and flags outdated functions and practices, suggesting an alternative or writing a custom function for a newer compiler that will provide similar functionality.

I don't know if you've ever taken the time or not... but Pelles C (yeah, I know, you're tired of me talking about it) is something of a bridge from the old to the new... It has most of TC's library included with the C-99 library and clearly identified as "non-standard" (prefixed with an underscore) where appropriate. It even as a compiler flag (/Go) that accepts the older (unmarked) versions of these functions to make it mostly compatible with TC and older versions of so called "TC Compatible" compilers. Pelle also poured a LOT of time into the library creating such nicities as WIN32_DEFAULT_LIBS that automatically identifies libraries when API headers are added. The same care went into the help file, documenting everything all in one very well written CHM file...

Although he has told us many times that he simply created what he needed to do his work, there is considerable evidence Pelle went well beyond simply that... addressing this issue before it became an issue!

Now, don't get me wrong here... I'm no Pelles C fanboi. If there was a better programming tool available; I'd be there in a heartbeat and I've frequently looked into other languages and compilers (much to the chagrin of some here).

My point is that here is this tool... this compiler, with everything these students need (except BGI Graphics, which were terrible even back then) and it is being roundly ignored by both schools and the corporate world... The parser you suggest already exists... Pelles warns you about "old school" coding methods and in some cases will actually suggest better functions (getch vs getchar for example). And it's FREE!

What I don't understand is why, given the chance, an educational system that purports to be leading edge would ignore such tools and necessitate the reinvention of old ways on new systems... Especially when the price of doing so is practically 0.
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserlight

Hmm... a quick search of the Web shows that this guy said programming is easy: Programming is Easy, Software Development is Hard :)

LOL... like I said... "nobody" said that... :D
10-05-2011
Elkvis

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

I might form the impression that the *teachers* are the ones scared by the new standards and just plain too lazy to upgrade their own skills and curriculum to embrace them.... at their student's expense.

it's equally likely that the teachers do not understand what they are teaching, and they are using the predefined curriculum as a crutch. if they were to update to a newer standard, they would have to re-learn what it took them many years to fake.
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elkvis

it's equally likely that the teachers do not understand what they are teaching, and they are using the predefined curriculum as a crutch. if they were to update to a newer standard, they would have to re-learn what it took them many years to fake.

Now ain't that the truth! I often wonder how many of these so called professors are actually programmers...

As in.. If I sat one of them down with a problem that is not part of the curriculum ...
Lets say the one I had last fall, converting music playlists in multiple unicode formats, from multiple platforms to .M3U utf8...
Could they code a solution?

I'd bet there are a significant number of them who could not.

Some years ago I proposed a "report card for teachers" as part of new regulations in my province. The idea was that after each semester, high school students had a chance to anonymously grade their teacher's performance in the classroom... I still think it's a good idea, perhaps even moreso for university and college professors...
10-05-2011
Yarin

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Now ain't that the truth! I often wonder how many of these so called professors are actually programmers...

As in.. If I sat one of them down with a problem that is not part of the curriculum ...
Lets say the one I had last fall, converting music playlists in multiple unicode formats, from multiple platforms to .M3U utf8...
Could they code a solution?

I'd bet there are a significant number of them who could not.

Indeed it is. A past friend of mine had taught C# at a community college for a couple years, and he completely admitted this, and did _not_ consider himself a programmer (in fairness, he wasn't a professor either). He's the only professional programming teacher I've ever known, so I can't speak with much experience on the matter. But as of now... 1 out of 1, aren't programmers ;)
10-05-2011
CommonTater

Maybe there's some truth to the old saying: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"... sad

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