Better yet, use QuickC ... or Turbo-C ... or any of the other good old C compilers that are freely available for nowt these days. Not to mention using "basic" C code that is readily transportable across various flavours (plus - with a bit of effort - into other programming languages) and OS platforms.
Open Source!
"Knobs and whistles" (and pretty displays) could always come later - if at all - once the real work has been done.
