WineVDM is a modified version of the Wine-based 16-bit Windows emulator, ported to run Windows 1.x through 3.1 applications on 64-bit Windows. Because modern 64-bit Windows cannot provide the legacy Local Descriptor Table support these programs expect, WineVDM combines a CPU emulator with code that translates 16-bit Windows calls into their 32-bit equivalents. It also handles conversion between 16-bit and native Windows handles and supplies DOS emulation for applications that need it.
To try it, users can drag a Win16 executable onto otvdm.exe or launch it with otvdmw.exe. Installing through the included shortcut or install.inf lets Windows start Win16 programs directly, including through its alternative-installer mechanism. The software also redirects attempts by older programs to save settings in protected Windows-directory .ini files. Configuration is available in otvdm.ini, and the project provides Visual Studio and CMake build instructions. It can run some DOS executables as well, with the emulated DOS version set through VDMDOSVER, but that feature is incomplete; DOSBox or MS-DOS Player is recommended for DOS use. Running the program may require the 32-bit Visual C++ 2017 runtime.
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Pratt parsing uses binding powers and recursion to handle operator precedence in expressions. A programmer compares it with the shunting-yard algorithm while exploring a C-expression parser for a future compiler. (unix.dog)
Blaze is an open-source tool that claims incremental Rust builds can be up to 92 times faster than Cargo and rustc. It targets faster rebuilds for Rust development workflows. (github.com)
OpenGL ES 3.0 remains a practical choice for teaching introductory graphics because students can build 3D scenes with code and shaders that work across platforms. Moving to a newer API would require substantial course updates without clear benefits for the course’s goals. (eliasfarhan.ch)
Corridor Digital’s CorridorKey 2.0 is a one-time-purchase keying plugin for Windows with NVIDIA GPUs, supporting Resolve, Nuke, After Effects, Premiere, and Blender. It includes a standalone batch-processing app and offers high-resolution, HDR keying designed to reduce flicker. (corridorkey.com)
Explorer starts a program with its containing folder as the current directory, while a batch file may use a different directory. Changing to the program’s folder with `pushd` before launching it fixed the problem. (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Zig now requires parentheses when certain operator combinations have ambiguous precedence, while leaving common, unambiguous expressions unchanged. The change reduces how many precedence rules programmers need to memorize and required edits to only 353 lines in Zig’s million-plus-line codebase. (ziglang.org)
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