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Not just working code -- code that worked well in a real-time video game on 386/486 class hardware. That's the genius bit as far as Doom's code is concerned.

Edit: clarify

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That was the thing that was so revolutionary about Abrash: he figured out how to create graphics that rivaled arcade hardware on the IBM PC.

Most importantly: without a GPU.

At the time, all of the really "flashy" arcade games used GPUs that cost around $1500 in today's dollars. Abrash pulled off this stunt with no GPU.

I'd argue that the entire reason the Xbox is called "Xbox" is because of "Mode X", invented by Abrash.

The Xbox is called Xbox because Microsoft wanted to build a console around Windows APIs, internally calling it a "DirectX box".

And DirectX has nothing to do with ModeX; it's a family of APIs: DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound, etc.

When Carmack did his work, the computers he had were 386/486 class. So the distinction you're making doesn't make sense. Working code is code that works in the computer you have at the time you're writing the software.

There is a distinction between 'working code' and 'working code that runs at interactive frame rates in a severely memory-constrained environment'.

Doom was technically developed on NeXT workstations, but it had to perform well enough on a 386 (even if in a reduced window).

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