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gluxon | 4 years ago

PortableApps.com is where I started programming back when I was 11 years old in 2008.

The community completely changed my life. I learned a lot about writing software on forums and the IRC channel from numerous people that were just willing to give advice to a stranger. I'm glad this community is still alive.

I proudly say my first programming language is NSIS. (The Windows scripting language most wrappers on the site are written in.)

Thank you John.

discuss

chrismorgan|4 years ago

… and I proudly say that I saved another generation from having to wrangle with NSIS, and all the copying and pasting of obscure and buggy code that was endemic, by writing the PortableApps.com Launcher!

(I’d probably write the PortableApps.com Launcher in Rust these days, though you’d have to be careful to avoid things like bringing in Unicode tables, and put more effort than usual into shrinking things. Rust has been my favourite language since 2014 now. But I would consider Zig seriously too, though I’m not familiar with it or its Windows API interop. But as with almost all of the developers connected with the PortableApps.com project, once I got a bit older I seldom or never needed it, having a computer of my own, and so drifted away at last.)

exikyut|4 years ago

> I’m not familiar with [Zig] or its Windows API interop

Incidentally dealing with very interesting complexity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29610302 (from a couple days ago)

The issue honestly reads like a Rust-hustle level of "we will figure these issues out correctly". Really cool to watch from the sidelines.

JohnTHaller|4 years ago

Thank you for the work you did for us over the years, Chris. I hope life is treating you well!

bayindirh|4 years ago

IIRC, NSIS is Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, which is just another priceless gem came out of original Nullsoft team.

It's the Winamp of windows installation systems in my eyes.

robertlagrant|4 years ago

My first job circa 2004 was writing an NSIS installer for a long-gone startup in the East Midlands, UK. It was not my first language, but I very much enjoyed it.

JohnTHaller|4 years ago

You're welcome, Brandon. And thank you for the work you did for the project over the years. I hope life is treating you well!

rmccue|4 years ago

Oh hey, same :)

Congrats John!

JohnTHaller|4 years ago

Thanks, Ryan! I hope life is treating you well!