This was in the days when the PC was just coming on the market - the hardware was also designed and built inhouse.

Another programmer that started around the same time as our hacker brought his own PC in to work, and insisted on doing all his development on that. But by avoiding using the system he was writing for as much as he possibly could, he ended up learning nothing about the system. It isn't clear whether that was the only reason his code was crap.

Hugo