Microsoft killed FoxPro in 2007. Anyway, here's FoxPro revived
A developer has impressively resurrected Microsoft's long-dead Visual FoxPro 9 as FoxDev Studio, providing a 64-bit runtime and modern features without requiring a single line of code to be rewritten. This technical marvel solves a significant problem for businesses reliant on decades-old FoxPro applications, preventing costly migrations and extending the life of critical legacy systems. Hacker News celebrates the ingenuity and the practical impact of breathing new life into a beloved, yet defunct, development platform.
The Lowdown
FoxDev Studio is a remarkable project that brings the capabilities of Microsoft's Visual FoxPro 9 (VFP9) into the modern era, fifteen years after its official demise. This new environment allows existing VFP9 applications to run on 64-bit systems, vastly expanding their data handling capacity and integrating contemporary features, all without necessitating any changes to the original source code.
- Seamless Compatibility: FoxDev Studio directly opens and runs VFP9 projects, forms, class libraries, menus, and reports, preserving the original development experience and data formats (.dbf files).
- Modern Foundation: The core runtime is written in Rust, compiled to WebAssembly, featuring a fiber-based virtual machine that prevents blocking and offers improved performance.
- 64-bit Freedom: It eliminates the 2GB file size limitations inherent to VFP's 32-bit architecture, allowing tables to scale into hundreds of gigabytes (with a note that such enlarged tables won't be readable by original VFP9).
- Legacy Integration: Crucially, it provides a '32-bit bridge' to enable continued use of old .fll add-in libraries and COM objects, while also supporting modern 64-bit DLL calls and automation objects.
- Enhanced Language: "FoxScript" extends the original FoxPro language with new features like lambdas, JSON support, and HTTP server capabilities, all running on the same unified runtime.
- Developer Experience: The IDE features designers familiar to VFP developers, a linter, and a debugger, with UI elements rendered using React for responsiveness.
- Ongoing Development: While much is complete, future plans include finishing remaining language elements, a report designer/engine, and an installer for shipped applications.
This initiative stands as a powerful example of engineering legacy support, providing a lifeline for countless business applications that continue to operate critical functions, offering a pragmatic solution to a widespread and often overlooked challenge in software maintenance.
The Gossip
Nostalgic Nods and Enduring Legacy
Many commenters reminisce about their personal experiences with FoxPro, often from childhood or early careers, highlighting its surprising longevity in various businesses. There's a mix of warm nostalgia and acknowledgment of the platform's widespread, albeit often hidden, impact, demonstrating how a 'dead' technology continues to touch lives and operations.
Reviving Relics: Practicality vs. Preference
The discussion often grapples with the inherent conflict of maintaining deeply entrenched, decades-old business applications, weighing the practical necessity of keeping them running against the desire for modern alternatives. While some commenters express a personal aversion to FoxPro, the project is lauded for its engineering prowess in solving a pervasive legacy problem without forcing a complete rewrite.
Database Dinosaurs: A Family Reunion
The revival of FoxPro prompts comparisons to other historically significant, often forgotten, database and rapid application development (RAD) systems from the same era. Commenters mention contemporaries like Clarion and Paradox, underscoring a shared history of application development before the rise of modern web frameworks and the unique challenges these systems faced.