OSDev.org

inflater wrote:.BATch scripts in Windows, that was 4 years ago
It was sure fun to write some message, DEL *.* and convert it to COM Here you go - your first virus [actually I deleted it right away ]

inflater

I saw a so-called .BAT to COM compiler once. I bet it converted it to a whole bunch of 'system' calls. Did you know you can take any program, and rename it to .bat, .com, .scr, or .pif and it'll still run? Apparently .pif was rather popular because people would say "you can download that, it stands for picture image format".

From Wikipedia:

Wikipedia's article on Program Information File wrote:Although an actual PIF does not contain any executable code (it lacks executable files magic number "MZ"), it is an ipso facto, and it can be used to transmit computer viruses because of the way Microsoft Windows handles files with (pseudo-)executables' extensions: all .COMs, .EXEs, and .PIFs are analysed by the ShellExecute function and will run accordingly to their content and not extension. This can be proved by renaming any file from one of the extensions above to another.

Now this thread opened my eyes to the causes behind several disagreements and misunderstandings I had with people on this board in the past...

I will be celebrating my 35th birthday this month with my wife and my two children, and started my professional career as SW engineer at about the time some here learned to read...

This is not meant to be derogatory towards any of you, it just explains why I sometimes get the impression that some questions / opinions seem to come from an alternate reality: It's the generation conflict.

@Solar

I think it is good to know where someone stands age-wise, especially if you plan on trying to help with some of their questions.

As for me, I am currently in a Computer and Information Science(AS) degree track, but am at the moment applying for a transfer to a few universities for their Computer Engineering programs.

You have to look at it this way, we are where you were quite a few years ago, but give us time; we might just surprise you .

I feel able to confess that I am 26 now that I know there is someone (quite a bit) older here and as you have probably guessed, my career has absolutely nothing to do with computers (except using Word ).

Cheers,
Adam

I'm 15 right now.

I started programming BASIC at 7, C at 12, and finally os dev at about 13 and that's when I really started getting into everything. I made my first attempt to write a kernel at 13, and it didn't work out so I went on to other userspace things. Then, at 14 I came back and made a fairly functioning kernel and now I'm trying to rewrite that kernel in a much cleaner and better designed way.

Hopefully this time I'll be happy with it.