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How often do you create cross-platform applications?

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by onbliss 2 views

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Several discussions about cross-platform languages and applications arose my curiousity. So, how often do TR members create or have created cross-platform applications?

[b]Definition:[/b]A cross-platform application works on multiple operating systems and hardware. Maybe for the sake of this discussions, we can consider applications that need to be just compiled under a different OS to make it cross-platform.

1) Years of experience:
2) Application kinds: (business/enterprise, games, embedded, system etc.)
3) Application genre: (are the applications products or non-products)
4)Primary OS platform:
5) Creation Frequency:(All the time, Sometimes, Never)

Please feel free to share any other comments or information that you feel necessary.

----------------------------------
Let me start the ball rolling:

1. Years of experience: [b]15yrs in IT, atleast 12yrs in software development.[/b]
2. Application Kind: [b]Business/Enterprise[/b]
3. Application Genre: [b]Non-products and products[/b]
4. Primary OS Platform: [b]Windows[/b]
5. Creation Frequency: [b]Never[/b]

[b]Comments:[/b] Being an enterprise/business application developer (both Web and non-Web), I have been never asked to create a cross-platform application. I have worked in enterprises that have myraid technologies. The presentation tier and middle tier sometimes use different technologies. For example, at least in two enterprises the front ends were created for Windows (hence based on MS) and the middle tiers were based on Java.

My experience in developing products was long long ago, applications developed in Foxpro 2.6, PowerBuilder and Delphi that were just Windows based.

Edited: the title, typos

9 replies

by jaqui

1. Years of experience: 19yrs.
2. Application Kind: Business/Enterprise
3. Application Genre: Non-products and products
4. Primary OS Platform: Linux
5. Creation Frequency: As Contracted

Comments:

I always code for easy portability to otherp latforms, even when I'm coding for a linux application. I don't use platform specific code unless it's required, then I'll put in the same code for oother pltforms as conditional includes, so that when compiling on the other platform functionality is maintained. Why should I kill the possibility of selling the same product to several clients by NOT coding for cross platform support? By not doing so I potentially lose money, by doing so I lose nothing.

by onbliss

...that is my stance on these OS wars.

My post is a serious effort to discover how many of us really work on cross-platform area. As you see, my experience is limited to Windows and business applications, but I know there are multitudes who program in different languages and platforms.

This is no discussion to support or oppose MS or Mac or Linux.

I am passionate about the language that I programm currently with :-) And, in the past I have been in an unofficial Microsoft-hate-club at my work :-)) when I was using Delphi.

You see, I have worked on applications that have been installed on nearly 1000 machines and also just on 1 machine. The enterprise never gives us a chance/need to consider portability as an issue.

But my brother, who works in embedded programming for set-top boxes, works/talks about portability. And I am just like duh :-(

by jaqui

really work on cross pltform coding projects, look at Mozilla, Open Office and every other major open source package, they all work cross pltform and have millions of coders combined supporting them.

It is very much an open source attitude to code os agnostic as much as possible, for probably future porting.

by x-marcap

1. Years of experience: 26 yrs.
2. Application Kind: OS support
3. Application Genre: Support tools
4. Primary OS Platform: HPUX
5. Creation Frequency: As needed

I work mostly in the nix environments. That includes Solaris, linux, HPUX. When I code it tends to be something in C.

Pre-ansi C is very portable, and 'ix kernels are written in it. I have written kernel code and drivers. I would never write a driver that wasn't portable, if I have any choice.

For Gui stuff I use smalltalk... It is cross platform supported.

by jslarochelle

1) Years of experience: 20
2) Application kind: Online Process Analysis
3) Application genre: Product
4) Primary OS Platform: Windows XP
5) Creation frequency: All the times

One of the argument when we selected Java was portability. Finally it looks like we are going to migrate the application server to Linux.
Well there certainly is a real effort put into it.
You have to realize that this is going to be a challenging migration (this is a large piece of software and it uses a lot of OS ressources)

JS

by rob mekel

1. Years of experience: [b]22yrs in IT, atleast 10yrs in IT management[/b]
2. Application Kind: [b]OS support/Business/Enterprise[/b]
3. Application Genre: [b]Non-products and products[/b]
4. Primary OS Platform: [b]OS/400;Windows[/b]
5. Creation Frequency: [b]Never[/b]

Comments:
Worked for production company's and government as systemdeveloper, systemmanager, networkmanager, projectmanager, IT-manager.
Platforms: S/38, DOS, AS/400, Windows, Novell, AIX, HPUnix
Databases: DB400, DB2, Oracle,
Management/Project tools: ITIL, Prince2

by onbliss

...in projects, where an application is designed and developed for multiple platforms?

by x-marcap

My code is almost always developed in Unix or HPUX. There are people who always want widows clients. There are people who want X clients. I develop one time, and I am done...

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