Show HN: Still coding in VC++ 6.0 after losing everything, living in a trailer

[CodeAndExile]

Hey HN,

I spent 30 years writing CAD plugins in C++, mostly in Visual C++ 6.0. Then the industry collapsed. And I lost an intellectual lawsuit, my income dried up, and my marriage ended.

Now I live alone in a trailer in rural Canada — still writing code, still surviving, trying to crawl back.

This is a short video I made (50 seconds), documenting a quiet moment from this strange life. If you’ve ever hit rock bottom and kept going, you might relate.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dDLSd3pfIYI?feature=share

Thanks for watching. Just sharing — not selling anything.

[CodeAndExile]

I’ve never posted here before. If anyone’s ever been through something similar, would love to hear from you, thank you

[rvz]

> I spent 30 years writing CAD plugins in C++, mostly in Visual C++ 6.0. Then the industry collapsed.

There are thousands of companies that would pay an absurd amount of money for knowing C++ (HFTs, AI companies) if you play it right.

The majority of 'developers' here these days are absolutely petrified of the language.

> Now I live alone in a trailer in rural Canada — still writing code, still surviving, trying to crawl back.

This is what tests character of highly experienced professionals like yourself and respect to you for not giving up.

[CodeAndExile]

Appreciate it! I’ve actually just moved out of the trailer. I stay in my ex-wife’s garage for now, but might leave Canada for good. Thanks for taking the time to read. Means a lot.

[CodeAndExile]

Thanks you all! I’m still using Visual C++ 6.0 mainly for AutoCAD plugin development (ObjectARX), targeting some legacy projects that are still alive. Happy to share more if anyone’s curious how to survive with a 25-year-old compiler today.

[CodeAndExile]

Posted that VC6 screenshot yesterday (Reddit link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/1lv2l6x/st... ). Some folks thought it was an old pic — nah, that was taken two days ago on my Win11 machine. VC6 still runs. Sadly, so do I.

[nake89]

Wow! I didn't know it can run on Win11!

I have it running on my retro VM, which is a windows 98.

I've was trying to learn some C++ a month back. I've stuck with C++98 so that those skills would be somewhat transferable to VC6. But I always run issues with the syntax being a bit different. It'll compile on my g++ with c++98 settings, but not on my VC6 on my Win98. I'll get back to it at some point.

Currently I'm writing a SPA app that runs on my Win98 in IE5.5. It's been so much fun.

[sherdil2022]

Feel for you, man. Respect.

[CodeAndExile]

Thank you. It's been rough, but still coding. Messages like yours help more than you know.

[isntThatSth]

Hope everything works out for you!

[CodeAndExile]

Thanks a lot, man! I hope this reply isn’t considered “low-effort garbage” and gets me punished by the forum bots