Including CodeView for Windows? And there is at least one virtual device
driver (VxD) in the package which handles the communication from the
character mode build tools to the output window in the IDE which refuses to
load quite simply because NT has a different driver model.
I never had any problems with the char mode tools piping output to the
IDE. The editors, build tools and the IDE debugger worked fine on NT.
Char mode CodeView worked if you were careful and stayed within your
own application code ... tracing into system code would usually result
in a freeze (but NT could still kill it). I'm pretty certain CodeView
for Windows didn't work at all.
In one of my former lives I developed industrial image processing apps
that ran under Win3 (and Win9x in 16-bit mode) using proprietary
add-on hardware. I put NT4 on my desktop soon after it was released
because the 16-bit VC++ tools crashed so often. Emulation libraries
let me write code and do a lot of debugging at my desk without the
hardware. NT (after SP1) gave me stable platform for that and I used
it for serious 16-bit development for over two years.
I never used CodeView very much - I found the IDE sufficed for most
debugging and when it didn't there was a hardware issue and I usually
needed big guns - SoftIce, digital scope, once in a while a logic
analyzer ...
Some of those 16-bit systems from the mid 90's are still in service.
I actually fielded a support call regarding one of them just last
month. Thankfully I was able to solve the problem by looking at the
source as the proprietary hardware has gone the way of the DoDo. But
just in case, my old NT development system with its emulation
libraries is resting comfortably in stasis.
I understand that some folks might still want to use it, but the truth is
that it wasn't designed for that platform and runs only marginally well
there.
There is still a fair amount of interest in 16-bit C/C++ tools for
embedded development on DOS, extended DOS and bare hardware. There
are irregular (but continuing) inquiries in comp.arch.embedded about
using VC1.5x.
George