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.

[CodeAndExile]

That actually sounds awesome. Running IE5.5 on Win98 for a SPA app? Respect. And yeah, VC6 still works on my Win11 machine

[sherdil2022]

Feel for you, man. Respect.

[CodeAndExile]

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

[sherdil2022]

I have also used VC++ (ATL, MFC etc) till about 2005 or so - and can relate to that time and dev journey.

You can relatively easily pick up other languages and frameworks, especially using LLMs. This would help with your marketability for jobs.

Email me if you want to brainstorm.

[CodeAndExile]

Thanks, truly appreciate your message! yes, I’ve thought about picking up modern tools, especially LLMs. But at this point, I’m more focused on building something meaningful through YT. It’s a new path I’m exploring, maybe my last one.

[hackingonempty]

For someone like you that knows how to write software an LLM is amazing at helping you step out into an unfamiliar area like web development or making plugins for a different ecosystem. You tell it what you're trying to do and it knows specifically which classes to instantiate, functions to call, etc...

[CodeAndExile]

Really appreciate that! It gives me hope. Right now, I’m not in the headspace to pick up new coding skills. I’m more focused on processing everything emotionally and capturing/archiving it in a YouTube video (YT: CAD老狗). But yeah, I’ll definitely try it soon.Thank you!

[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