While the industry has gone slightly mad, packaging 'Hello World' apps into 150MB Electron bundles, a developer-archaeologist (and code necromancer) known as JordanCpp decided to remind us what a true native UI looks like. He has successfully resurrected the legendary GTK+ 1.3, making it possible to build it using modern MSVC 2022 and CMake.
The Rational Software Manifesto
This project isn’t just nostalgia for nostalgia's sake; it’s a living proof of how "broken" (or, as the author bluntly puts it, "trash") the modern UI development stack has become. In an era where a simple calculator needs 200 MB of RAM just to launch, GTK 1.3 delivers a masterclass in efficiency:
Memory Footprint: ~1.7 MB (Working Set). No, that's not a typo. A single Telegram sticker likely weighs more than the entire working environment of this port.
CPU Usage: A rock-solid 0% at idle. No background DOM tree rendering, no aggressive garbage collection—just pure performance.
Speed: Instant launch. No splash screens, no loading bars, and no waiting for a heavy runtime to "warm up."
Technical Necromancy in Action
This library proves that 25-year-old C code isn’t just alive; it’s still miles ahead of modern solutions in terms of performance. The port utilizes the native Win32 GDK backend, talking directly to the Windows API without any redundant abstraction layers.
What’s under the hood:
Toolchain: MSVC 2022 (v143) and CMake.
Zero Bloat: No CSS overhead here. The entire layout is handled by lightning-fast, imperative code.
Compatibility: From Windows 11 all the way down to (theoretically) Windows 98.
The author admits that migrating the build system to CMake was no small feat. When compiling, be prepared for "wall of text" warnings — a ghostly echo of C89 standards haunting us in 2024. The refactoring process is ongoing: the current setup works, but according to the author, it’s still a "work in progress."
Note: To build this yourself, you’ll need perl and awk (typically included with Git for Windows).
A Jab at Electron
This library is a clear demonstration that bloated software isn't an inevitability—it’s a choice. When code is written in pure C with a deep understanding of the OS, it remains immortal and incredibly fast, even a quarter-century later.
If you miss the days when software served the user rather than devouring their system resources, you are more than welcome to check out the repository.
Author’s Reflections
"With the growth of hardware performance, we have gained a lot. Things that once seemed impossible have become standard or are taken for granted. But sometimes, I can't help but wonder: have we lost something vital in this race?"
JordanCpp
Check it out on GitHub
You can find the source code, build instructions, and the current progress here:
Feel free to star the repo, open issues, or contribute to the CMake refactoring!
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