Georgiana BrummellI know there are many #DOS gamers here and those who simply love #retroComputing and #technology . But are there any serious DOS #programmers here as well? If so, in which language/s do you write? (I want to learn #QuickBasic , but I am at the very beginning, and it's not advanced enough for what I need.) Does anyone here work on the development of #FreeDOS ? Assuming any of the above is true, do any of you know about #accessibility and #ScreenReaders ? I am totally #blind and have loved DOS since I was a teenager. I am now forty-one. I am aware of the many updates to the system over the years, but have been unable to take advantage of them due to the fact that no new or updated #AdaptiveTechnology is being developed for it. Everyone seems to love Linux. I don't. Neither do I like Mac OS. I love Windows XP and 7, but 11 drives me mad. I think we deserve another alternative to all of these, and I also think that DOS can be it if a few things are added to it, including a talking installer, an updated screen reader and good software speech synthesis. For those of you who think DOS only equals dialup modems and floppies, you may wish to read this, or at least skim through it.
Eniko Fox
The FreeDOS Project@dandylover1 @eniko
Hi there! You asked about programming languages. I always liked C for programming on DOS. My first programming language was BASIC and then FORTRAN 77 but C works very well.
We include compilers for all of those, and more. They are on the Bonus CD.
McMartin@dandylover1 The Watcom compiler chain is a very good place to go for C compilation to DOS, and it can handle both 16- and 32-bit modes.
If you have some other OS you use that has better accessibility support, Watcom will almost certainly run on it as well, so your preferred text editors or reference browsers should all be available to you.
If you do ultimately dip into assembly language, I've always preferred Nasm.
Beyond that, SuperIlu's list of tools above is a strict superset of mine.