
Windows File Manager re-released - riboflavin
https://github.com/microsoft/winfile
======
miohtama
Before object oriented programming, before threading, GUI applications were
massive co-operative multitasking C switches:

[https://github.com/microsoft/winfile/blob/master/src/winfile...](https://github.com/microsoft/winfile/blob/master/src/winfile.c#L486)

~~~
cr0sh
Found a C "goto" in that code, too - eek. Maybe there was a good reason...

~~~
Narishma
There's nothing wrong with goto in C.

~~~
presidentscroob
It's a good pattern to DRY-up resource-releasing unwind code. In an ideal
world, there would be closures, RAII and fluent interfaces (macros) that would
wrap allocation, deallocation, error and success handling without needing C++
and avoiding resource leaks.

    
    
        int
        some_func(void) {
          int result = ERR;
    
          HANDLE foo = alloc_foo();
          if (!foo) goto err0;
    
          HANDLE bar = alloc_bar();
          if (!bar) goto err1;
    
          if (do_something_else() < 0) goto err2;
    
          result = OK;
        err2:
          release_bar(bar);
        err1
          release_foo(foo);
        err0:
          return result;
        }

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ralphc
I set up Windows 98 on an old Pentium III for vintage gaming. I had forgotten
how simple, fast and "you have one job" this is. Definite install on my
Windows 10 machines.

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PTOB
OK, trying not to over-react here, but the OLD Ctrl+F FILE SEARCH WORKS, and
it's frickin' fast.

~~~
naikrovek
Only drive C: is indexed, though.

Voidtools Everything is going to remain my Windows search tool for now.

~~~
jamesb93
Tried "Everything"?

~~~
naikrovek
> Tried "Everything"?

Yes, that's what I said I use.

~~~
jamesb93
My bad, I read your program as 'Voidtools' and didn't realise we are talking
about the same thing.

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edgarvaldes
I like it. It feels so simple and straightforward.

~~~
flukus
It's so fast, easily the most responsive GUI on my PC. Far easier navigation
than modern explorer too.

Can we go back to this in get rid of all this "modern" multi threaded,
hardware accelerated crap?

~~~
naikrovek
Multi-threaded is usually good.

Hardware acceleration is usually good.

I'm not sure why you think modern software is slow, but it is definitely not
those two things, unless they are implemented EXTREMELY naively, which is far,
far less common than one would think.

~~~
flukus
> I'm not sure why you think modern software is slow, but it is definitely not
> those two things

I think modern software is slow because it's slow (despite having vastly more
powerful computers), those 2 things along with the language apps written in
are the major technical differences between old software and modern software.
If theory doesn't match reality then the theory must be wrong.

This app starts is more responsive than my windows start menu.

~~~
naikrovek
Yes, the application starts very quickly and feels instant (which is how _ALL_
software should be, dammit.)

I _GUARANTEE_ you that any lack of multi-threading or hardware acceleration is
not the cause for the speed, but rather the simplicity of the application.
It's as complex as it needs to be to perform its job, and not more.

Today's unfortunate software development practices stack layer upon layer of
abstraction on top of the CPU; far more than was the case when this
application was written. As such, more modern applications are bogged down
with the weight of all of this stuff.

Developers today have forgotten that "mo' code means mo' problems" and are
quite happy to reference any stupid library they come across in order to make
things feel simpler. What they've actually done is make things far more
complex, and complexity is the undying, always victorious, enemy of
performance.

I don't like that modern applications are slow, either. They aren't slow
because of multi-threading and hardware acceleration, I promise. They're slow
because of piles of stupid decisions on how software should be built.

------
kristianp
And if you want the neat, small calc.exe back, I used this:
[https://winaero.com/blog/get-calculator-from-
windows-8-and-w...](https://winaero.com/blog/get-calculator-from-
windows-8-and-windows-7-in-windows-10/)

------
dehrmann
> F12 runs notepad or notepad++ on the selected file

Did Microsoft accidentally admit that MS notepad is worthless?

------
mdrzn
What a throwback! I'll still keep using Total Commander (ex. Windows
Commander) since the first day I had a PC.

------
dehrmann
But no Space Cadet pinball.

~~~
freeone3000
[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20181221-00/?p=10...](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20181221-00/?p=100535)

Third parties may have your back.

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cyberjunkie
Oh, this is so quick.

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stuff4ben
Port to OSX?

~~~
fsiefken
Works with Wine, I'd like a port to Linux Arm64 though, it's a nice graphic
file manager. On the other hand, ranger is adequate.

~~~
baldfat
Ranger is by far the most useful file manager I have ever used. It's quick and
powerful. The only thing that keeps it in the minor leagues is how big the
learning curve is for anyone that doesn't know Vim shortcuts.

~~~
Fnoord
Love the triple pane.

I'd argue such a file manager is _meant_ for people who prefer and are used to
Vim shortcuts. I just tried Ranger. Got image preview and Solarized theme
working, but it does hang on previews it seems.

For a GUI one, I can recommend fman (fman.io) as it uses the Sublime paradigm
(shortcuts plus a command palette). It isn't FOSS though.

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vokep
Wait what...ok...cool...but...why?

~~~
recursive
Windows explorer has gotten a little bit "magical" for my taste. There are all
these different kinds of special system folders that invoke different view
logic somehow. Sometimes you just want to see the actual file system.

~~~
ygra
Well, that's because Explorer doesn't navigate the file system, but the shell
namespace.

~~~
recursive
I have never heard of that. I mean, I don't doubt it's true, but I think I
just want to see the files usually. But then again, I don't know what that
means.

~~~
buckminster
As a simple example, you can explore into a zip file as if it were a file
system folder. This is really useful, but you're obviously no longer dealing
with just plain old file system paths.

~~~
ygra
Also things like "My Computer", the recycle bin, the network, phones connected
via MTP, etc. It's basically something the actual file system is only a part
of, and yes, some file system locations are hidden, some are merged, some are
redirected, etc.

