What is retrocoding?

[Tomaaz]

Yes. What is it? Is it coding in retro languages? Well, I don't think so. Have a look at this example:

require './easyraylib'

initwindow(255, 255, "Kolory")
settargetfps(60)

while not windowshouldclose()
	begindrawing()
        clearbackground(color(255, 255, 255, 255))
        for x in 0..255
		for y in 0..255
			drawpixel(x, y, color(x, y, 255 - x, 255))
		end
	end
    enddrawing()
end

Is this an example of retrocoding? In my opinion - yes. And what language it is? What do you think?

[ron77]

hi Tomaaz

in my eyes retro coding is using "old tools" and "old ways" of programming like still using Qbasic for 16 bit programs to run on dosbox (MS-DOS) like using 32 bit compilers for 32 bit executables and avoiding 64 bit programming unless there is no choice or avoiding OOP programming in your code...

retro coding in my eyes is "making your own tools" and using old OS's if possible (MS-DOS or win XP or old linux distros) - retro coding is using FOSS (FREE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE) as much as possible... as well as coding or programming not for work or a job or a career but for the hobby (hobby programming)

retro coding for me is avoiding the high tech framework and sites like github linkedin visual studio NET and modern languages such as python Java JavaScript...

retro coding means to me preserving the old ways of programming of doing things in code (winapi for example) qbasic turbo pascal for ms-dos freebasic and C for 32 bit windows applications and linux 64 bit applications - to learn and remember how coders and programmers used to code in the 80s 90s and 2000s

retro coding to me is coding for fun not money programming for the soul not for the profit...

retro programming to me is freedom... freedom from present day bullshit by clinical toxic people who think they are programmers and coders but won't help you without humiliating you condescending you trolling you schooling you telling you RTFM etc etc...

i was in community programming like qb64 and freebasic and yes they helped me "learn to code and be better in programming" but the price was toxic abuse... that's why retrocoders community exist even if it's for just 2 3 4 people...

i don't use github to backup my stuff i use this forum and my hdd and dropbox...

sure i have meltdowns and psycho drama each day almost and people say i'm an ass and a jerk and a fool and a joke and a million other things but i don't care if they are right or wrong... as long as i succeed to code what i try to the old ways it's fine by me (and i lose a lot cause of this attitude)...

one day in 10 20 or 50 years we are all going to be a far memory and this forum will not exist anymore unless in some archived pages of the internet archive but as long as we are here we got the freedom to do as we see right... code as we choose and make something (even temporary) from our lives...

[CharlieJV]

Yes. What is it? Is it coding in retro languages? Well, I don't think so. Have a look at this example:

require './easyraylib'

initwindow(255, 255, "Kolory")
settargetfps(60)

while not windowshouldclose()
    begindrawing()
        clearbackground(color(255, 255, 255, 255))
        for x in 0..255
        for y in 0..255
            drawpixel(x, y, color(x, y, 255 - x, 255))
        end
    end
    enddrawing()
end

Is this an example of retrocoding? In my opinion - yes. And what language it is? What do you think?

That's a really great question and a wildly interesting topic.

My introduction to programming began in the 80's with a Commodore VIC-20.  The home computer revolution was a cool and fun thing, but I never could care less about hardware: I was all about programming in BASIC, seeing what folk could create, people sharing their creations.

To me, that's retro-programming.  From back in that day: the kind of programming, the kind of culture, the kind of charm the programs had back then (pixelated, constrained by memory/colour/etc.)

I'm all about anything and everything that can facilitate that (make it ridiculously easy to have that).  The type of device and the type of software don't matter to me (I'm agnostic in that sense), as long as they support that creative and fun spirit, the kind of excited and wide-eyed bewilderment, of the day.

If whatever it is brings back to me the nostalgia of the period, then it has that retro spice I'm looking for.

If it CAN run a BASIC program from the 70's/80's (without too much futzing about, better without any futzing about), then extra extra bonus points.

[Tomaaz]

For me retrocoding is about creating fun or/and challenging short programs/scripts that are not necessarily useful in any way. They should have a retro look (console, 2D graphics and very basic 3d stuff). I don't care if they are created in C# or Yabasic. It's possible to create retro computer music using modern hardware. It's possible to create retro looking photos using newest equipment and software. And it's absolutely possible to do retrocoding in modern languages. To be honest, there are more people making retro stuff in Python or JavaScript alone than in all the BASICs of this world.

For me retrocoding and retrocomputing are two different things. Let me use C64 as an example here. There are still people that mainly use original hardware. They play on it, code on it, modify it etc. That's retrocomputing. I'm happy to write C64 programs using modern editors and then run them in VICE or even write C64-like demos using any other language and LMMS (with its SID emulation) for sound. That's retrocoding.

BTW You still hasn't answered my question. What language is that? 

[ron77]

i'd guess that's Dlang or Julia

[Tomaaz]

i'd guess that's Dlang or Julia

Nope. It's Ruby.