Turbo C, in the Browser
Turbo C 2.0 packaged as a browser IDE with js-dos — a working time capsule for the first programs many engineers wrote.
Stack js-dos · DOSBox · JavaScript · HTML
Before online judges, before package managers, there was a blue screen, a compiler that fit on a floppy, and a graphics header that made a circle feel like a magic trick.
Turbo C, in the Browser packages Turbo C 2.0 as a static site using js-dos. The compiler is the real binary, the editor is the real editor, and the programs compile and run exactly as they did on a DOS machine. Nothing is emulated in the sense of a modern reimplementation; the whole environment is a time capsule.
Why keep it
The first programs many engineers wrote were initgraph, circle, getch, closegraph. The tool is gone from most machines and the memory of it is doing a lot of work in the way people talk about “simpler” software. This project lets you check the memory against the artefact.
The site is one page: a short note, a launch button, and the DOS window. It is the smallest possible wrapper around a large piece of history.