Cross-platform
Encyclopedia
In computing
, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software
or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms. Cross-platform software may be divided into two types; one requires individual building or compilation for each platform that it supports, and the other one can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, e.g., software written in an interpreted language
or pre-compiled portable bytecode
for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all platforms.
For example, a cross-platform application
may run on Microsoft Windows
on the x86 architecture
, Linux
on the x86 architecture
and Mac OS X
on either the PowerPC
or x86 based Apple Macintosh systems. A cross-platform application
may run on as many as all existing platforms, or on as few as two platforms.
running on the x86 architecture
. Other well-known desktop computer platforms include Linux
/Unix
and Mac OS X
(both of which are themselves cross-platform). There are, however, many devices such as cellular telephones that are also effectively computer platforms but less commonly thought about in that way. Application software
can be written to depend on the features of a particular platform—either the hardware, operating system, or virtual machine it runs on. The Java platform is a virtual machine
platform which runs on many operating systems and hardware types, and is a common platform for software to be written for.
or processor architecture. For example, the x86 and x86-64
CPUs make up one of the most common computer architecture
s in use in general-purpose home computers today. These machines often run one version of Microsoft Windows
, though they can run other operating system
s as well, including Linux
, OpenBSD
, NetBSD
, Mac OS X
and FreeBSD
.
An ARM architecture
is common on smartphones
and tablet computers
, which run Android, IOS and other mobile operating systems
.
or programming environment, though more commonly it is a combination of both. A notable exception to this is Java
, which uses an operating system
independent virtual machine
for its compiled code, known in the world of Java as bytecode
. Examples of software platforms include:
is a software platform. The Java language requires a virtual machine
, or a “virtual CPU” which runs all of the code that is written for the language. This enables the same executable
binary
to run on all systems, supporting the Java software, through the use of a Java Virtual Machine
. Java executables do not run natively on the operating system
; that is, neither MSWindows
nor Linux
execute Java programs directly.
Even though Java code does not run natively, the JVM
is fully capable of providing OS related services, like disk I/O and network access, if the appropriate privileges are granted. The JVM allows users to decide the appropriate protection level, depending on an ACL
. For example, disk and network access is usually enabled for desktop applications, but not for browser based Applets.
JNI
can also be used to enable access to Operating System
specific functions. Currently, Java programs can run on the Microsoft Windows
, Mac OS X
, Linux
, and Solaris
operating systems. For mobile applications, browser plugins are used for Windows and Mac based devices, and Android has built-in support for Java.
or operating system
. This can be a time-consuming task given that different operating system
s have different application programming interface
s or API
s (for example, Linux
uses a different API
for application software
than Windows
does).
Just because a particular operating system
may run on different computer architecture
s, that does not mean that the software written for that operating system will automatically work on all architecture
s that the operating system supports. One example as of August, 2006 was OpenOffice.org
, which did not natively run on the AMD64 or Intel 64 lines of processors implementing the x86-64
64-bit
standards for computers; this has since been changed, and the OpenOffice.org suite of software is “mostly” ported to these 64-bit systems http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Porting_to_x86-64_(AMD64,_EM64T). This also means that just because a program is written in a popular programming language such as C
or C++
, it does not mean it will run on all operating systems that support that programming language
—or even on the same operating system on a different architecture.
s are typically described as cross-platform because, ideally, they are accessible from any of various web browser
s within different operating systems. Such applications generally employ a client–server system architecture, and vary widely in complexity and functionality. This wide variability significantly complicates the goal of cross-platform capability, which is routinely at odds with the goal of advanced functionality.
web server
, and pass the result to the client web browser. All user interaction with the application consists of simple exchanges of data requests and server responses. These types of applications were the norm in the early phases of World Wide Web
application development. Such applications follow a simple transaction
model, identical to that of serving static web page
s. Today, they are still relatively common, especially where cross-platform compatibility and simplicity are deemed more critical than advanced functionalities. hence this is basic application
, A9.com
, and the maps.live.com website, part of the Live Search service from Microsoft. Such advanced applications routinely depend on additional features found only in the more recent versions of popular web browsers. These dependencies include Ajax
, JavaScript
, “Dynamic” HTML
, SVG, and other components of rich internet application
s. Older versions of popular browsers tend to lack support for certain features.
Such strategies include:
Graceful degradation attempts to provide the same or similar functionality to all users and platforms, while diminishing that functionality to a ‘least common denominator’ for more limited client browsers. For example, a user attempting to use a limited-feature browser to access Gmail may notice that Gmail switches to “Basic Mode,” with reduced functionality. Some view this strategy as a lesser form of cross-platform capability.
Separation of functionality attempts to simply omit those subsets of functionality that are not capable from within certain client browsers or operating systems, while still delivering a ‘complete’ application to the user. (see also Separation of concerns
).
Multiple codebase applications present different versions of an application depending on the specific client in use. This strategy is arguably the most complicated and expensive way to fulfill cross-platform capability, since even different versions of the same client browser (within the same operating system) can differ dramatically between each other. This is further complicated by the support for “plugins” which may or may not be present for any given installation of a particular browser version.
Third party libraries attempt to simplify cross-platform capability by ‘hiding’ the complexities of client differentiation behind a single, unified API.
. In addition to the complications mentioned previously, there is the additional restriction that some browsers prohibit installation of different versions of the same browser on the same operating system. Techniques such as full virtualization
are sometimes used as a workaround for this problem.
which does not rely on a client/web-server architecture.
The distinction between “traditional” and “web” applications is not always unambiguous, however, because applications have many different features, installation methods and architectures; and some of these can overlap and occur in ways that blur the distinction. Nevertheless, this simplifying distinction is a common and useful generalization.
s, a specific type of binary file
. Such executable
s only support the operating system
and computer architecture
that they were built for—which means that making a “cross-platform executable” would be something of a massive task, and is generally not done.
For software that is distributed as a binary
executable
, such as software written in C
or C++
, the programmer must build the software
for each different operating system
and computer architecture
. For example, Mozilla
Firefox
, an open-source web browser, is available on Microsoft Windows
, Mac OS X
(both PowerPC
and x86 through something Apple calls a Universal binary
), and Linux
on multiple computer architectures. The three platforms (in this case, Windows
, Mac OS X
, and Linux
) are separate executable
distributions, although they come from the same source code
.
In the context of binary software, cross-platform programs are written in the source code and then “translated” to each system that it runs on through compiling it on different platforms. Also, software can be ported
to a new computer architecture
or operating system
so that the program becomes more cross-platform than it already is. For example, a program such as Firefox, which already runs on Windows on the x86 family, can be modified and re-built to run on Linux on the x86 (and potentially other architectures) as well.
As an alternative to porting, cross-platform virtualization allows applications compiled for one CPU and operating system to run on a system with a different CPU and/or operating system, without modification to the source code or binaries. As an example, Apple's
Rosetta
software, which is built into Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers, runs applications compiled for the previous generation of Macs that used PowerPC
CPUs. Another example is IBM PowerVM Lx86
, which allows Linux/x86 applications to run unmodified on the Linux/Power operating system.
is available on multiple platforms and the script only uses the facilities provided by the language. That is, a script written in Python
for a Unix-like
system will likely run with little or no modification on Windows
, because Python also runs on Windows
; there is also more than one implementation of Python that will run the same scripts (e.g., IronPython
for .NET
). The same goes for many of the open source
programming language
s that are available and are scripting language
s.
Unlike binary
executable
s, the same script can be used on all computers that have software to interpret the script. This is because the script is generally stored in plain text
in a text file
. There may be some issues, however, such as the type of new line character
that sits between the lines. Generally, however, little or no work has to be done to make a script written for one system, run on another.
Some quite popular cross-platform scripting or interpreted language
s are:
s, specialized computer
s dedicated to the task of playing games. Examples of cross-platform games include:
Each has been released across a variety of gaming platforms, such as the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3
, Xbox 360
, personal computer
s (PCs), and mobile devices.
The characteristics of a particular system may lengthen the time taken to implement a video game across multiple platforms. So, a video game may initially be released on a few platforms and then later released on remaining platforms. Typically, this situation occurs when a new gaming system is released, because video game developer
s need to acquaint themselves with the hardware and software associated with the new console.
Some games may not become cross-platform because of licensing agreements between developers and video game console manufacturers that limit development of a game to one particular console. As an example, Disney could create a game with the intention of release on the latest Nintendo
and Sony
game consoles. Should Disney license the game with Sony first, Disney may in exchange be required to release the game solely on Sony’s console for a short time or indefinitely — effectively prohibiting a cross-platform release for the duration.
Several developers have implemented means to play games online while using different platforms. Epic Games
, Microsoft
, and Valve Software all possess technology that allows Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
gamers to play with PC gamers, leaving the decision of which platform to use to consumers. The first game to allow this level of interactivity between PC and console games was Quake 3.
Games that feature cross-platform online play include:
version of a program might have one set of source code files and the Macintosh version might have another, while a FOSS
*nix system might have another. While this is a straightforward approach to the problem, it has the potential to be considerably more expensive in development cost, development time, or both, especially for the corporate entities. The idea behind this is to create more than two different programs that have the ability to behave similarly to each other. It is also possible that this means of developing a cross-platform application will result in more problems with bug tracking and fixing, because the two different source trees would have different programmers, and thus different defects in each version. The smaller the programming team, the quicker the bug fixes tend to be.
Another approach that is used is to depend on pre-existing software that hides the differences between the platforms—called abstraction
of the platform—such that the program itself is unaware of the platform it is running on. It could be said that such programs are platform agnostic. Programs that run on the Java
Virtual Machine
(JVM
) are built in this fashion.
Some applications mix various methods of cross-platform programming to create the final application. An example of this is the Firefox web browser
, which uses abstraction
to build some of the lower-level components, separate source subtrees for implementing platform-specific features (like the GUI), and the implementation of more than one scripting language
to help facilitate ease of portability. Firefox implements XUL
, CSS
and JavaScript
for extending the browser, in addition to classic Netscape
-style browser plugins. Much of the browser itself is written in XUL, CSS, and JavaScript, as well.
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms. Cross-platform software may be divided into two types; one requires individual building or compilation for each platform that it supports, and the other one can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, e.g., software written in an interpreted language
Interpreted language
Interpreted language is a programming language in which programs are 'indirectly' executed by an interpreter program. This can be contrasted with a compiled language which is converted into machine code and then 'directly' executed by the host CPU...
or pre-compiled portable bytecode
Bytecode
Bytecode, also known as p-code , is a term which has been used to denote various forms of instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable for further compilation into machine code...
for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all platforms.
For example, a cross-platform application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
may run on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
on the x86 architecture
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on the x86 architecture
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
on either the PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
or x86 based Apple Macintosh systems. A cross-platform application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
may run on as many as all existing platforms, or on as few as two platforms.
Platforms
A platform is a combination of hardware and software used to run software applications. A platform can be described simply as an operating system or computer architecture, or it could be the combination of both. Probably the most familiar platform is Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
running on the x86 architecture
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
. Other well-known desktop computer platforms include Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
/Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(both of which are themselves cross-platform). There are, however, many devices such as cellular telephones that are also effectively computer platforms but less commonly thought about in that way. Application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
can be written to depend on the features of a particular platform—either the hardware, operating system, or virtual machine it runs on. The Java platform is a virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
platform which runs on many operating systems and hardware types, and is a common platform for software to be written for.
Hardware platforms
A hardware platform can refer to a computer’s architectureComputer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
or processor architecture. For example, the x86 and x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
CPUs make up one of the most common computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
s in use in general-purpose home computers today. These machines often run one version of Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, though they can run other operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s as well, including Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, OpenBSD
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
, NetBSD
NetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
.
An ARM architecture
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
is common on smartphones
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
and tablet computers
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
, which run Android, IOS and other mobile operating systems
Mobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
.
Software platforms
Software platforms can either be an operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
or programming environment, though more commonly it is a combination of both. A notable exception to this is Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, which uses an operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
independent virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
for its compiled code, known in the world of Java as bytecode
Bytecode
Bytecode, also known as p-code , is a term which has been used to denote various forms of instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable for further compilation into machine code...
. Examples of software platforms include:
- AmigaOSAmigaOSAmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000...
(m68k), AmigaOS 4AmigaOS 4AmigaOS 4, , is a line of Amiga operating systems which runs on PowerPC microprocessors. It is mainly based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code, and partially on version 3.9 developed by Haage & Partner...
(PowerPC), AROSArosAros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
(x86, PowerPC, m68k), MorphOSMorphOSMorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
(PowerPC) - BSD, very cross platform (see NetBSDNetBSDNetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
, for example) - JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
- LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
(x86, x86-64, PowerPCPowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
, and other architectures) - Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(PowerPC, x86, x86-64) - Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(x86, x86-64X86-64x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
) - MS-DOSMS-DOSMS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and compatibles on the x86: MS-DOS, DR-DOSDR-DOSDR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
, FreeDOSFreeDOSFreeDOS is an operating system for IBM PC compatible computers. FreeDOS is made up of many different, separate programs that act as "packages" to the overall FreeDOS Project...
, etc. - OS/2OS/2OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
, eComStationEComStationeComStation or eCS is a PC operating system based on OS/2, published by Serenity Systems. It includes several additions and accompanying software not present in the IBM version of the system.-Differences between eComStation and OS/2:... - Solaris (SPARCSPARCSPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....
, x86, x86-64) - The CLICommon Language InfrastructureThe Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
, also known by the implementation names .NET Framework.NET FrameworkThe .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
(from MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
) and MonoMono (software)Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
(from NovellNovellNovell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
)
Java platform
As previously noted, the Java platform is an exception to the general rule that an operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
is a software platform. The Java language requires a virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
, or a “virtual CPU” which runs all of the code that is written for the language. This enables the same executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
binary
Binary file
A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...
to run on all systems, supporting the Java software, through the use of a Java Virtual Machine
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
. Java executables do not run natively on the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
; that is, neither MSWindows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
nor Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
execute Java programs directly.
Even though Java code does not run natively, the JVM
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
is fully capable of providing OS related services, like disk I/O and network access, if the appropriate privileges are granted. The JVM allows users to decide the appropriate protection level, depending on an ACL
Access control list
An access control list , with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects. Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject...
. For example, disk and network access is usually enabled for desktop applications, but not for browser based Applets.
JNI
Java Native Interface
The Java Native Interface is a programming framework that enables Java code running in a Java Virtual Machine to call and to be called by native applications and libraries written in other languages such as C, C++ and assembly.-Purpose and features:JNI enables one to write native methods to...
can also be used to enable access to Operating System
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
specific functions. Currently, Java programs can run on the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, and Solaris
Solaris Operating System
Solaris is a Unix operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems. It superseded their earlier SunOS in 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known, has been owned by Oracle Corporation since Oracle's acquisition of Sun in January 2010....
operating systems. For mobile applications, browser plugins are used for Windows and Mac based devices, and Android has built-in support for Java.
Cross-platform software
In order for software to be considered cross-platform, it must be able to function on more than one computer architectureComputer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
or operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. This can be a time-consuming task given that different operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s have different application programming interface
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
s or API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
s (for example, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
uses a different API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
for application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
than Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
does).
Just because a particular operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
may run on different computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
s, that does not mean that the software written for that operating system will automatically work on all architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
s that the operating system supports. One example as of August, 2006 was OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
, which did not natively run on the AMD64 or Intel 64 lines of processors implementing the x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
standards for computers; this has since been changed, and the OpenOffice.org suite of software is “mostly” ported to these 64-bit systems http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Porting_to_x86-64_(AMD64,_EM64T). This also means that just because a program is written in a popular programming language such as C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
or C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, it does not mean it will run on all operating systems that support that programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
—or even on the same operating system on a different architecture.
Web applications
Web applicationWeb application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s are typically described as cross-platform because, ideally, they are accessible from any of various web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s within different operating systems. Such applications generally employ a client–server system architecture, and vary widely in complexity and functionality. This wide variability significantly complicates the goal of cross-platform capability, which is routinely at odds with the goal of advanced functionality.
Basic applications
Basic web applications perform all or most processing from a statelessStateless server
In computing, a stateless protocol is a communications protocol that treats each request as an independent transaction that is unrelated to any previous request so that the communication consists of independent pairs of requests and responses...
web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
, and pass the result to the client web browser. All user interaction with the application consists of simple exchanges of data requests and server responses. These types of applications were the norm in the early phases of World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
application development. Such applications follow a simple transaction
Transaction processing
In computer science, transaction processing is information processing that is divided into individual, indivisible operations, called transactions. Each transaction must succeed or fail as a complete unit; it cannot remain in an intermediate state...
model, identical to that of serving static web page
Static web page
A static web page is a web page that is delivered to the user exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages which are generated by a web application....
s. Today, they are still relatively common, especially where cross-platform compatibility and simplicity are deemed more critical than advanced functionalities. hence this is basic application
Advanced applications
Prominent examples of advanced web applications include the Web interface to GmailGmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, A9.com
A9.com
A9.com is a subsidiary of Amazon.com based in Palo Alto, California that develops search engine technology. A9 currently has over 100 employees in its Palo Alto, Bangalore, and Dublin offices.A9 has worked in 3 areas over the years....
, and the maps.live.com website, part of the Live Search service from Microsoft. Such advanced applications routinely depend on additional features found only in the more recent versions of popular web browsers. These dependencies include Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, “Dynamic” HTML
Dynamic HTML
Dynamic HTML, or DHTML, is an umbrella term for a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by using a combination of a static markup language , a client-side scripting language , a presentation definition language , and the Document Object Model.DHTML...
, SVG, and other components of rich internet application
Rich Internet application
A Rich Internet Application is a Web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, independent sandboxes, extensive use of JavaScript, or virtual machines...
s. Older versions of popular browsers tend to lack support for certain features.
Design strategies
Because of the competing interests of cross-platform compatibility and advanced functionality, numerous alternative web application design strategies have emerged.Such strategies include:
Graceful degradation
Graceful degradation attempts to provide the same or similar functionality to all users and platforms, while diminishing that functionality to a ‘least common denominator’ for more limited client browsers. For example, a user attempting to use a limited-feature browser to access Gmail may notice that Gmail switches to “Basic Mode,” with reduced functionality. Some view this strategy as a lesser form of cross-platform capability.
Separation of functionality
Separation of functionality attempts to simply omit those subsets of functionality that are not capable from within certain client browsers or operating systems, while still delivering a ‘complete’ application to the user. (see also Separation of concerns
Separation of concerns
In computer science, separation of concerns is the process of separating a computer program into distinct features that overlap in functionality as little as possible. A concern is any piece of interest or focus in a program. Typically, concerns are synonymous with features or behaviors...
).
Multiple codebase
Multiple codebase applications present different versions of an application depending on the specific client in use. This strategy is arguably the most complicated and expensive way to fulfill cross-platform capability, since even different versions of the same client browser (within the same operating system) can differ dramatically between each other. This is further complicated by the support for “plugins” which may or may not be present for any given installation of a particular browser version.
Third party libraries
Third party libraries attempt to simplify cross-platform capability by ‘hiding’ the complexities of client differentiation behind a single, unified API.
Testing strategies
One complicated aspect of cross-platform web application design is the need for software testingSoftware testing
Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software...
. In addition to the complications mentioned previously, there is the additional restriction that some browsers prohibit installation of different versions of the same browser on the same operating system. Techniques such as full virtualization
Full virtualization
In computer science, full virtualization is a virtualization technique used to provide a certain kind of virtual machine environment, namely, one that is a complete simulation of the underlying hardware...
are sometimes used as a workaround for this problem.
Traditional applications
Although web applications are becoming increasingly popular, many computer users still use traditional application softwareApplication software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
which does not rely on a client/web-server architecture.
The distinction between “traditional” and “web” applications is not always unambiguous, however, because applications have many different features, installation methods and architectures; and some of these can overlap and occur in ways that blur the distinction. Nevertheless, this simplifying distinction is a common and useful generalization.
Binary software
Traditionally in modern computing, application software has been distributed to end-users as binary images, which are stored in executableExecutable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
s, a specific type of binary file
Binary file
A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...
. Such executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
s only support the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
and computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
that they were built for—which means that making a “cross-platform executable” would be something of a massive task, and is generally not done.
For software that is distributed as a binary
Binary file
A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...
executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
, such as software written in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
or C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, the programmer must build the software
Software build
In the field of computer software, the term software build refers either to the process of converting source code files into standalone software artifact that can be run on a computer, or the result of doing so...
for each different operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
and computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
. For example, Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
, an open-source web browser, is available on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(both PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
and x86 through something Apple calls a Universal binary
Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
), and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on multiple computer architectures. The three platforms (in this case, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
) are separate executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
distributions, although they come from the same source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
.
In the context of binary software, cross-platform programs are written in the source code and then “translated” to each system that it runs on through compiling it on different platforms. Also, software can be ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to a new computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
or operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
so that the program becomes more cross-platform than it already is. For example, a program such as Firefox, which already runs on Windows on the x86 family, can be modified and re-built to run on Linux on the x86 (and potentially other architectures) as well.
As an alternative to porting, cross-platform virtualization allows applications compiled for one CPU and operating system to run on a system with a different CPU and/or operating system, without modification to the source code or binaries. As an example, Apple's
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Rosetta
Rosetta (software)
Rosetta was a lightweight and dynamic binary translator for Mac OS X which Apple released in 2006 when it transitioned the Macintosh from PowerPC to Intel processors. It allowed pre-existing software to run on the new systems without modification....
software, which is built into Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers, runs applications compiled for the previous generation of Macs that used PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
CPUs. Another example is IBM PowerVM Lx86
Lx86
PowerVM Lx86 is a binary translation layer for IBM's System p servers. It enables 32-bit x86 Linux binaries to run unmodified on the Power Architecture based hardware...
, which allows Linux/x86 applications to run unmodified on the Linux/Power operating system.
Scripts and interpreted languages
A script can be considered to be cross-platform if the scripting languageScripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
is available on multiple platforms and the script only uses the facilities provided by the language. That is, a script written in Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
for a Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
system will likely run with little or no modification on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, because Python also runs on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
; there is also more than one implementation of Python that will run the same scripts (e.g., IronPython
IronPython
IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language targeting the .NET Framework and Mono. Jim Hugunin created the project and actively contributed to it up until Version 1.0 which was released on September 5, 2006. Thereafter, it was maintained by a small team at Microsoft until...
for .NET
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
). The same goes for many of the open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s that are available and are scripting language
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
s.
Unlike binary
Binary file
A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...
executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
s, the same script can be used on all computers that have software to interpret the script. This is because the script is generally stored in plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
in a text file
Text file
A text file is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists within a computer file system...
. There may be some issues, however, such as the type of new line character
Newline
In computing, a newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line marker, is a special character or sequence of characters signifying the end of a line of text. The name comes from the fact that the next character after the newline will appear on a new line—that is, on the next line below the...
that sits between the lines. Generally, however, little or no work has to be done to make a script written for one system, run on another.
Some quite popular cross-platform scripting or interpreted language
Interpreted language
Interpreted language is a programming language in which programs are 'indirectly' executed by an interpreter program. This can be contrasted with a compiled language which is converted into machine code and then 'directly' executed by the host CPU...
s are:
- bash—A Unix shellUnix shellA Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
commonly run on LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and other modern Unix-likeUnix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems, as well as on WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
via the CygwinCygwinCygwin is a Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications, data, and other system resources with applications, software tools, and data of the Unix-like environment...
POSIXPOSIXPOSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...
compatibility layer. - PerlPerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
—A scripting language first released in 1987. Used for CGICommon Gateway InterfaceThe Common Gateway Interface is a standard method for web servers software to delegate the generation of web pages to executable files...
WWW programming, small system administration tasks, and more. - PHPPHPPHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
—A scripting languageScripting languageA scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
most popular in use on the WWW for web applicationWeb applicationA web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. - PythonPython (programming language)Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
—A modern scripting languageScripting languageA scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
where the focus is on rapid application developmentRapid application developmentRapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...
and ease-of-writing, instead of program run-time efficiency. - RubyRuby (programming language)Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...
—A scripting language whose purpose is to be object-oriented and easy to read. Can also be used on the web through Ruby on RailsRuby on RailsRuby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
. - TclTclTcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
- A dynamic programming language, suitable for a wide range of uses, including web and desktop applications, networking, administration, testing and many more.
Video games
Cross-platform is a term that can also apply to video games released on a range of video game consoleVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s, specialized computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s dedicated to the task of playing games. Examples of cross-platform games include:
- Miner 2049erMiner 2049erMiner 2049er is a video game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. The game was licensed in conjunction with International Computer Group . At the time of its release, Miner 2049'er was notable for having ten different screens, which was a large number for a platform...
- Phantasy Star OnlinePhantasy Star OnlinePhantasy Star Online is an online multiplayer action RPG title, originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000, bundled with a demo of Sonic Adventure 2. Another edition, entitled Phantasy Star Online ver.2, was released for Dreamcast the following year...
- Tomb Raider: Legend
- FIFA SeriesFIFA SeriesFIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label...
Each has been released across a variety of gaming platforms, such as the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s (PCs), and mobile devices.
The characteristics of a particular system may lengthen the time taken to implement a video game across multiple platforms. So, a video game may initially be released on a few platforms and then later released on remaining platforms. Typically, this situation occurs when a new gaming system is released, because video game developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
s need to acquaint themselves with the hardware and software associated with the new console.
Some games may not become cross-platform because of licensing agreements between developers and video game console manufacturers that limit development of a game to one particular console. As an example, Disney could create a game with the intention of release on the latest Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
game consoles. Should Disney license the game with Sony first, Disney may in exchange be required to release the game solely on Sony’s console for a short time or indefinitely — effectively prohibiting a cross-platform release for the duration.
Several developers have implemented means to play games online while using different platforms. Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, and Valve Software all possess technology that allows Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
gamers to play with PC gamers, leaving the decision of which platform to use to consumers. The first game to allow this level of interactivity between PC and console games was Quake 3.
Games that feature cross-platform online play include:
- Kane & Lynch: Dead MenKane & Lynch: Dead MenKane & Lynch: Dead Men is a cooperative third-person shooter developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The mobile phone version was developed by Kiloo and published by Eidos Mobile...
- Lost Planet: Colonies
- Phantasy Star OnlinePhantasy Star OnlinePhantasy Star Online is an online multiplayer action RPG title, originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000, bundled with a demo of Sonic Adventure 2. Another edition, entitled Phantasy Star Online ver.2, was released for Dreamcast the following year...
- ShadowrunShadowrun (2007 video game)Shadowrun is an online only first-person shooter video game, developed by FASA Interactive for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. It was later cracked to work on Windows XP, confirming speculation that it was intentionally limited to Windows Vista. The game features a buying system which is greatly...
- Uno
- Final Fantasy XI Online
- Universe at War: Earth AssaultUniverse at War: Earth AssaultUniverse at War: Earth Assault is a real-time strategy game originally to be named Invasion: Earth, developed by Petroglyph and published by Sega...
- Game RoomGame RoomGame Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
- Team Fortress 2Team Fortress 2Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
- Portal 2Portal 2Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
- Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveCounter-Strike: Global OffensiveCounter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online first-person shooter based game currently in development by Valve Software and Hidden Path Entertainment, who also co-developed Counter-Strike: Source...
- Dust 514Dust 514Dust 514 is an upcoming console-based MMOFPS set within the Eve universe, developed by CCP Games. It was announced on August 18, 2009 at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany and was introduced with a short trailer featuring realtime footage of the game...
with Eve OnlineEVE OnlineEve Online is a video game by CCP Games. It is a player-driven, persistent-world MMORPG set in a science fiction space setting. Characters pilot customizable ships through a galaxy of over 7,500 star systems. Most star systems are connected to one or more other star systems by means of stargates...
Platform-independent software
Software that is platform independent does not rely on any special features of any single platform, or, if it does, handles those special features such that it can deal with multiple platforms.Cross-platform programming
Cross-platform programming is the practice of actively writing software that will work on more than one platform.Approaches to cross-platform programming
There are different ways of approaching the problem of writing a cross-platform application program. One such approach is simply to create multiple versions of the same program in different source trees—in other words, the WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
version of a program might have one set of source code files and the Macintosh version might have another, while a FOSS
Foss
Foss may refer toPeople*Foss , people with the last name Foss*Foss Shanahan , New Zealand diplomat*Foss Westcott , English bishop...
*nix system might have another. While this is a straightforward approach to the problem, it has the potential to be considerably more expensive in development cost, development time, or both, especially for the corporate entities. The idea behind this is to create more than two different programs that have the ability to behave similarly to each other. It is also possible that this means of developing a cross-platform application will result in more problems with bug tracking and fixing, because the two different source trees would have different programmers, and thus different defects in each version. The smaller the programming team, the quicker the bug fixes tend to be.
Another approach that is used is to depend on pre-existing software that hides the differences between the platforms—called abstraction
Abstraction layer
An abstraction layer is a way of hiding the implementation details of a particular set of functionality...
of the platform—such that the program itself is unaware of the platform it is running on. It could be said that such programs are platform agnostic. Programs that run on the Java
Java (Sun)
Java refers to several computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems, a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation, that together provide a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cross-platform environment...
Virtual Machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
(JVM
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
) are built in this fashion.
Some applications mix various methods of cross-platform programming to create the final application. An example of this is the Firefox web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
, which uses abstraction
Abstraction layer
An abstraction layer is a way of hiding the implementation details of a particular set of functionality...
to build some of the lower-level components, separate source subtrees for implementing platform-specific features (like the GUI), and the implementation of more than one scripting language
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
to help facilitate ease of portability. Firefox implements XUL
XUL
In computer programming, XUL , the XML User Interface Language, is an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project. XUL operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox...
, CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
for extending the browser, in addition to classic Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
-style browser plugins. Much of the browser itself is written in XUL, CSS, and JavaScript, as well.
Cross-platform programming toolkits and environments
There are a number of tools which are available to help facilitate the process of cross-platform programming:- CairoCairo (graphics)cairo is a software library used to provide a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It is designed to provide primitives for 2-dimensional drawing across a number of different backends...
: A free softwareFree softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
library used to provide a vector graphics-based, device-independent API. It is designed to provide primitives for 2-dimensional drawing across a number of different backends. Cairo is written in C and has bindings for many programming languages. - Eclipse: An open source cross platform development environment. Implemented in Java with a configurable architecture which supports many tools for software development. Add-ons are available for several languages, including Java and C++.
- FLTKFLTKFLTK is a cross-platform GUI library developed by Bill Spitzak and others. Made with 3D graphics programming in mind, it has an interface to OpenGL, but it is also suitable for general GUI programming....
: Another open source cross platform toolkit, but more lightweight because it restricts itself to the GUI. - fpGUIFpGUIfpGUI, the Free Pascal GUI toolkit, is a cross-platform graphical user interface toolkit developed by Graeme Geldenhuys. fpGUI is open source and free software, licensed under a Modified LGPL license...
: An open source widget toolkit that is completely implemented in Object Pascal. It currently supports Linux, Windows and a bit of Windows CE. - GTK+GTK+GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
: An open source widget toolkit for Unix-like systems with X11 and Microsoft Windows. - haXeHaXehaXe is a versatile open-source high-level multiplatform programming language described on its website as a "universal language".It can produce:* Flash applications and games* Multi-platform client-side web applications* Apache CGI web applications...
: An open source cross-platform language. - JuceJuceJUCE is a free software, cross-platform C++ application framework, used for the development of GUI applications and plug-ins.The aim of JUCE is to allow software to be written such that the same source code will compile and run identically on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms...
: An application framework written in C++, used to write native software on numerous systems (Microsoft Windows, POSIX, Mac OS X), with no change to the code. - LiveCodeLiveCodeThe LiveCode programming language is a commercial cross-platform rapid application development language inspired by Hypercard's programming language HyperTalk.The language was first introduced in 2001...
: a RAD IDE developed by Runtime Revolution, compiles binaries to MacOS X, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and can be used as a server-side scripting language to produce web applications. - MonoMono (software)Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
(an open source version of Microsoft .NET): A cross-platform framework for applications and programming languages. - MonoCrossMonoCrossMonoCross is a C# .NET Model-view-controller framework where the Model and Controller are shared across platforms and the View is implemented for every specific platform and/or target architecture. It allows the development of both native and HTML5 web apps that share business logic and data code...
is an open source Model-view-controllerModel-view-controllerModel–view–controller is a software architecture, currently considered an architectural pattern used in software engineering. The pattern isolates "domain logic" from the user interface , permitting independent development, testing and maintenance of each .Model View Controller...
design pattern where the model and controller are shared cross-platform but the view is platform-specific. - MoSyncMoSyncMoSync is an OS-independent virtual platform and software development kit for mobile applications. It is integrated with the Eclipse development environment, and is provided as a cross-platform mobile development SDK under the GPL version 2 license....
is an open source SDK for mobile platform app development in the C++ family. - MozillaMozilla application frameworkThe Mozilla application framework is a collection of cross-platform software components that make up the Mozilla applications. It was originally known as XPFE, an abbreviation of cross-platform front end. It was also known as XPToolkit...
: An open source platform for building Mac, Windows and Linux applications. - OpenGLOpenGLOpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
: A cross-platform 3D graphics library. - QtQt (toolkit)Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface , and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers...
—An application framework and widget toolkitWidget toolkitIn computing, a widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...
for Unix-likeUnix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems with X11, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and other systems—available under both open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and proprietary licenses. - RealStudioREAL StudioReal Studio is a programming environment developed andcommercially marketed by Real Software, Inc of Austin, Texasfor Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, 32-bit x86 Linux and the...
: a RAD IDE developed by Real Software, uses an object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language, and produces compiled binaries for Macintosh, Windows and Linux, as wells as being able to produce cgi-based web applications. - Simple and Fast Multimedia Library—A multimedia C++ APIApplication programming interfaceAn application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
that provides low and high level access to graphics, input, audio, etc. - Simple DirectMedia LayerSimple DirectMedia LayerSimple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
—An open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
cross-platform multimedia library written in C that creates an abstraction over various platforms’ graphics, sound, and input APIApplication programming interfaceAn application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
s. It runs on many operating systems including Linux, Windows and Mac OS X and is aimed at games and multimedia applications. - Smartface PlatformSmartfaceSmartface Platform is drag-and-drop cross-platform mobile application development and management tool from Mobinex, and first released on 2006. Smartface Designer, the component of Smartface Platform enables visual development of mobile applications with drag-and-drop actions and interactive wizards...
: A cross platform tool for Windows used to create mobile applications for J2ME, Symbian S60, BlackBerry and Android, using drag-and-drop tools and action editing. - Tcl/Tk
- wxWidgetsWxWidgetswxWidgets is a widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces for cross-platform applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with minimal or no code changes...
: An open source widget toolkit that is also an application frameworkApplication frameworkIn computer programming, an application framework consists of a software framework used by software developers to implement the standard structure of an application for a specific development environment ....
. It runs on Unix-likeUnix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems with X11, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It permits applications written to use it to run on all of the systems that it supports, if the application does not use any operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
-specific programming in addition to it. - XVTXVTXVT is a software development environment for building cross-platform GUI applications in C or C++. XVT allows developers to graphically lay out an application's GUI, and provides cross-platform libraries to aid development....
: A cross-platform toolkit for creating desktop applications in C/C++ on Windows, Linux and Unix (Solaris, HPUX, AIX), and Mac. - XPower++XPower++XPower++ was created with the open source project Lazarus/Free Pascal and aims to be a development environment that encapsulates Grid Computing. XPower++ includes the core libraries to create Live Applications that can perform on a Grid Computing System....
is a cross-platform IDE for Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and Mobile operating systems. - Ultimate++Ultimate++Ultimate++ is a C++ cross-platform development framework which aims to reduce the code complexity of typical desktop applications by extensively exploiting C++ features.-Features:* currently supports Microsoft Windows, Linux/X11 and BSD/X11....
: is a C++ cross-platform rapid application development framework focused on programmers productivity. It includes a set of libraries (GUI, SQL, etc..), and an integrated development environment. It supports Windows and Unix-like OS-s. The U++ competes with popular scripting languages while preserving C/C++ runtime characteristics. It has its own integrated development environment, TheIDE, which features BLITZ-build technology to speedup C++ rebuilds up to 4 times.
Challenges to cross-platform development
There are certain issues associated with cross-platform development. Some of these include:- Testing cross-platform applications may be considerably more complicated, since different platforms can exhibit slightly different behaviors or subtle bugs. This problem has led some developers to deride cross-platform development as “Write Once, Debug Everywhere”, a take on Sun’s “Write Once, Run Anywhere”Write once, run anywhere"Write once, run anywhere" , or sometimes write once, run everywhere , is a slogan created by Sun Microsystems to illustrate the cross-platform benefits of the Java language. Ideally, this means Java can be developed on any device, compiled into a standard bytecode and be expected to run on any...
marketing slogan. - Developers are often restricted to using the lowest common denominatorLowest common denominatorIn mathematics, the lowest common denominator or least common denominator is the least common multiple of the denominators of a set of vulgar fractions...
subset of features which are available on all platforms. This may hinder the application's performance or prohibit developers from using platforms’ most advanced features. - Different platforms often have different user interface conventions, which cross-platform applications do not always accommodate. For example, applications developed for Mac OS X and GNOMEGNOMEGNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
are supposed to place the most important button on the right-hand side of windows and dialogs, whereas Microsoft Windows and KDEKDEKDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
have the opposite convention. Though many of these differences are subtle, a cross-platform application which does not conform appropriately to these conventions may feel clunky or alien to the user. When working quickly, such opposing conventions may even result in data lossData lossData loss is an error condition in information systems in which information is destroyed by failures or neglect in storage, transmission, or processing. Information systems implement backup and disaster recovery equipment and processes to prevent data loss or restore lost data.Data loss is...
, such as in a dialog boxDialog boxIn a graphical user interface of computers, a dialog box is a type of window used to enable reciprocal communication or "dialog" between a computer and its user. It may communicate information to the user, prompt the user for a response, or both...
confirming whether the user wants to save or discard changes to a file. - Scripting languages and virtual machines must be translated into native executable code each time the application is executed, imposing a performance penalty. This performance hit can be alleviated using advanced techniques like just-in-time compilationJust-in-time compilationIn computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...
; but even using such techniques, some performance overhead may be unavoidable. - Different platforms require the use of native package formats such as RPMRPM Package ManagerRPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself...
and MSIWindows InstallerThe Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems...
. Multiplatform installers such as InstallBuilderInstallBuilderInstallBuilder is a commercial development tool for creating cross-platform installation programs and software packages. InstallBuilder is developed by BitRock and was first released in February 2004. BitRock was founded by Daniel Lopez Ridruejo in 2003....
and IzPackIzPackIzPack is an open source software installer generator that targets the Java platform.It generates installers that fit in single JAR archives. As such, IzPack-generated installers are cross-platform: the same installer works on any operating system that has a working Java Runtime Environment...
address this need. - Cross-platform execution environments may suffer cross-platform security flaws, creating a fertile environment for cross-platform malware.
See also
- List of widget toolkits
- Platform virtualization
- Java Platform
- Steam (software)