for example you want to add nice feature to c++ with nice syntax, but there is a similar syntax somewhere in C that nobody uses, but you have to support it. you end up with nice feature with horrible syntax.
i mean:
for example you have a problem 'how do i create scrollbars two squares wide' (not a real problem, can't think of something now)
if you work with qt for example so these days you ask google/stackoverflow/qtforum and you have multitude of responses if it's a common problem and sometimes you have whole solutions ready to copy&paste.
when you work with TV and ask google - you usually get... not much. so you have to take the longer route: study the doc/books (you mentioned), study the code, examples... or be friend with the author of this library or those two or three people who actively use this library these days ;)
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edit: btw those books (there's a c++ one as well) you mention are good, but, sadly, no book is detailed enough when you have very specific problem :)
it is still very well usable - i used TV 2.0 year ago to do some prototype. i wanted (and mostly succeeded) to create turbovision front end for LLDB debugger... you know, that would behave like Borland's Turbo Debugger.
few quick notes:
- blimey it was like it where i left it 199x :) you can even compile/run code from 1993 without major issues.
- there's even a better internal TV editor based on scintilla, so with syntax highlighting and such. although i was trying to mod it without success, i'll have to ask author for help, probably.
- there's no documentation (in the sense of common wisdom), so you can't ask stack overflow or AI. you have to do it like in old days: learn from examples (that have bugs in them ;) and read those few books on turbo vision again and again.
- manual 'layouting' is kinda annoying, some auto layout like qt would be handy
- i miss splitters, but that should not be hard to implement
- tbh i am kinda surprised how small and compact TV really is. it felt ginormous in the 90ies :)
overall - the author did very good job modernizing the library and i love it.
they have their own pain - there are those different mosquitoes, that tries to enter your every orifice. eyes, ears, nose, urethra. very annoying.
after long journey we arrived into the camp. we wondered why we were the only ones there, so we got out of the car and there they were. a lot of them. that was the fastest i ever built a tent and we jumped in it and called it an early night :)
(i worked with asn1c (not sure which fork) and had to hack in custom allocator and 64bit support. i shiver every time something needs attention in there)
F5 is for save game
F9 is load :)