FractInt[1] is still around and most certainly faster with more options. I remember playing with it endlessly in the 90s, alawys looking for new versions on shareware CDs (that was before the Internet). I think I still have a dozen or so floppy disks filled with fractal images somewhere...
The beauty of this work lies not in practicality but in the pure joy of creation. Sure, they could have used a modern tool, but like baking your own bread when you could easily buy it, there’s a deep satisfaction in building something yourself, especially using vintage tools. There’s no pressing need—just the simple pleasure of programming for its own sake.
No. I meant that instead writing this with turboc for msdos you could have used Python or Java or just about anything. Or gotten a prebuilt Mandelbrot render tool. There’s even on for the web [1].
[1] https://www.fractint.org/
I say well done.
So why bother. Because it’s fun.
1. https://mandelbrot.silversky.dev/