Homecomputers until the 1990s

 Before the advent of today's PC technology which is dominated by Windows and Linux operating system there was a much smaller community available of computer enthusiasts. From 1980-1990 most of todays computer hardware and software was invented in the first place and the magazines which were introducing the subject to a readership were sometimes very well informed. In that period two dominant computer systems were available which was the Commodore 64 and the MS DOS PC.

At first it should be mentioned that on IBM PC hardware until the year 1990 the well known Windows operating won't be running fast enough. The only available operating system for early DOS Computers was DOS itself which is a single user, single tasking operating system. In comparison to the Commodore 64 advantage was that it was much easier to write software for MS DOS than for the C64. 8bit homecomputers with 64kb and less main memory and without any harddrive are not capable in running compiled C programs. The only sense making programming technique is the Assembly language. In contrast, early MS DOS PC until 1990s are working fine with c compilers. These large scale programs including the build in libraries can be installed on the small hard drive (less than 100 MB) and it is possible to write and debug software direct on a MS DOS PC.

The reason why this workflow is described in detail is because its working the same like modern programming workflow in the 2020s. That means, in the last decades the programming itself hasn't changed that much. Typing in C code on a 286 PC and compile it into machine code or typing in java code into a mto a more recent 4 core PC is based on the same abstraction mechanism. The human programmer has a set of libraries and combines existing functions into a new software.

Somebody may argue, that the difference between Assembly language and Turbo C is small because both programming language were invented decades ago. This assumption is wrong. Learning assembly from scratch and write larger software is very complicated while the same task in C can be handled easily. The difference is that the C language is a problem oriented language while assembly is hardware oriented. The typical assembly program is written for a certain CPU and a certain adress space in the main memory, while c program are written around a certain domain like a game or a word processing applications.

The only negative point of the C language are the hardware requirement. C assumes that an entry level 286 MS DOS PC is available which has 600 kb of RAM and a harddisc of 10 MB and more. Its not possible to run  a compiler with less RAM and without a harddrive. Even if some C compilers are available for the C64, it can't be used in reality for writing programs. The cause is that a compiled C program is much slower and will need more RAM than a hand coded assembly program.

The main difference between the C64 and the MS DOS PC Is, that C64 programmers claim that Assembly language is a here to stay. This assumption is the result of the lower hardware of the C64 which prevents to use any other programming language than Assembly. Even if its possible to write Assembly program on the MS DOS PC most programmers prefer a c compiler because the language allows to increase the productivity. Especially if a graphics library is available and the programmer is familiar with the computer its possible to write simple games in a short amount of time, very similar to what today's programmer can archive. in other words the existence of a c compiler is the single cause why MS DOS PC have replaced 8bit homecomputers.