I have been using Borland Turbo C++ for my retro programming. I am programming in C, and I am still learning, but I find it to be quite a fast compiler, and the debugging seems to work quite well. However, I do find the compiler errors to sometimes be hard to decipher. I do miss some of the niceties that you get in more modern IDEs though. Especially autocomplete.

Also the DOS text mode editor doesn't let you see much code at once compared to what I am used to in my day job of programming in C# and Javascript.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-07-20, 15:13:

Also the DOS text mode editor doesn't let you see much code at once compared to what I am used to in my day job of programming in C# and Javascript.

What if you put ansi.sys in config.sys, and mode con lines=50 in autoexec.bat?

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-07-20, 15:13:

I do miss some of the niceties that you get in more modern IDEs though. Especially autocomplete.

Also the DOS text mode editor doesn't let you see much code at once compared to what I am used to in my day job of programming in C# and Javascript.

Agreed! Autocomplete saves lots of time typing and wider / higher resolution screens allow us to see more of our code. The frustrations are real.