The History of Djgpp (1998)

DJGPP and the Allegro game library were my first foray into C++ in around 1996-1997 if I recall. Having access to a proper 32-bit protected mode system in DOS (without having to pirate a bunch of other compilers!) was a pretty incredible step forward for the community.

I pretty quickly moved onto building in Win95/98 with MSVC not long after, but I am very grateful to DJ for the compiler and Shawn Hargreaves for Allegro.

	▲	grumbel 2 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		One really nice thing with Allegro is that it's still around, many Linux distributions still ship it and those 30 year old games can still be recompiled quite easily.
	▲	bena an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Same. Djgpp with allegro was a godsend for someone without the funds or means to purchase software.

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Rapzid 26 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My high school computer science program used DJGPP.

Also this title violates the capitalization rule at the very top of the page :)

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JimDabell 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39038095 (Jan 2024, 109 comments)

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mshroyer 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

DJGPP was foundational for me. It got me into C at an early age, as the second toolchain I spent much time with following Microsoft QuickBasic, and it was my gateway to eventually exploring Linux and Emacs.

I'm sure many others here have similar stories. It was especially valuable to have something like DJGPP back in the mid 90s, when many of us only had access to DOS PCs and compilers were expensive.

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Dwedit 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Needs a "1998" in the title.

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martinclayton 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Used this in 1992 for a photon counting imaging system. Worked great.

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InsideOutSanta 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

According to the linked article, this title I correctly capitalizes djgpp.

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urbnspacecowboy 3 hours ago | parent [-]

DJGPP's author has some funny ideas about spelling and capitalization, including his own name, DJ Delorie (not "D. J." or the like). I guess it's his own personal "no brown M&M's" rule!

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kelnos 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> funny ideas about spelling and capitalization, including his own name, DJ Delorie (not "D. J." or the like)

If you read his about page, "DJ" is his legal name, as-is, with no spaces. It's not an initialism or abbreviation for something else.

Regardless, it's a little weird to criticize someone for how they spell their name. By definition, their name is spelled how they want it. It's a core component of identity.

	▲	skissane an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> If you read his about page, "DJ" is his legal name, as-is, with no spaces. It's not an initialism or abbreviation for something else. Not that it is really any of my business, but I wonder if that's always been his legal name, or if he changed it at some point. I can see how if someone is used to going by their initials, they might eventually decide it is more of their real name than their legal name is, and hence change their legal name to match their real one. Conversely, maybe that's actually the name his parents gave him. OTOH, my mother's real name (what her family and friends call her) and her legal name have always been different. I asked her once if she ever thought of changing it, she told me she's lived her whole life with them being different – she's in her late 70s now – and doesn't see the point of trying to officially align them, the work involved would outweigh any benefit to her

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readthenotes1 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Or it's just an artifact of neurodivergence