[aprssig] Program bloat

[Tim N9PUZ]

On 4/29/2010 12:19 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote:

> I still carry a copy of APRSdos and local maps on a 1.4M floppy
> in the glove box for quick installs on old PC's if needed in a
> pinch.  Only thing it doesn't do is the internet...  Im not
> recommending it, just showing how times change, memory grows,
> bloat explodes, but all the original functionality was in there.
...

> No point really...
>
> Bob, WB4APR

There are exceptions I'm sure but in general I think we see amateur 
radio applications today developed by people who program for a living 
vs. the "good old days" when hackers (the good kind) provided cool 
applications for us. This means that they use the same tools for fun as 
they do for work -- i.e., Microsoft Visual Studio .NET in many cases.

The bloat, and incompatibility with older computers, comes from the 
tools not necessarily the programmers. Visual Studio compilers beginning 
with VS 2008 cannot create programs that do not have .NET 3.5 or newer 
libraries. With .NET 3.5 Microsoft dropped support for Windows 2000 and 
earlier versions of the Windows OS.

73, Tim N9PUZ