OK, I appreciate all the answers I've been getting. I'm going to check into Python, Java, MinGW, and Qt. And from another list I'm on, I'll be looking at DOSBOX as a "quick and dirty" way of keeping my current compiler and applications. One advantage it has over the typical virtual machine like VMWare is that it can interact with the "live" Windows file system. As for other suggestions, if it takes me more than a day to learn how to write "Hello World" or more than a week to write a simple program, then it's probably more trouble than it is worth. Thanks! Bill On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 10:16 AM, William Couture wrote= : > Sorry if this is too off-topic, but this is a problem I can't ignore > anymore. > > I've been using the same C compiler since the mid-1980's to write whateve= r > little utilities I need. Needless to say, it produces 16-bit DOS code. > > Well, Windows XP support is coming to an end, and the "current" Windows 7= / > Windows 8.x don't support old 16-bit DOS applications. > > So, what can I use as an easy-to-learn replacement? > > I usually write something that does serial I/O (write to serial port, get > reply, > format to screen, repeat as necessary), file format filtering (read line > of file, > parse/format as necessary, write to STDOUT and redirect to file on the > command line), and"glue" for stringing together multiple executables in > batch files (get user options, call executable, display return code in > human readable format, repeat as necessary). > > C-like syntax definitely preferred. > > And I'm sure the option of a virtual machine under Win7/Win8.x will come > up, which would be perfectly fine, but I haven't heard of one what will > interact with the actual "live" Windows file system. If you know of one, > please let me know. > > Thanks! > Bill > > > -- > Psst... Hey, you... Buddy... Want a kitten? straycatblues.petfinder.or= g > --=20 Psst... Hey, you... Buddy... Want a kitten? straycatblues.petfinder.org --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .