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Platform (computing)
 
 
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In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a platform describes some sort of hardware architecture
Hardware architecture

In engineering, hardware architecture refers to the identification of a system's physical components and their interrelationships. This description, often called a hardware design model, allows hardware designers to understand how their components fit into a system architecture and provides software component designers important inf...
 or software framework
Software framework

A software framework, in computer programming, is an abstraction in which common code providing generic functionality can be selectively overridden or specialized by user code providing specific functionality....
 (including application framework
Application framework

In computer programming, an application framework is a software framework that is used to implement the standard structure of an application software for a specific operating system....
s), that allows software
Computer software

Computer software, or just software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, Algorithm and Software documentation that perform some tasks on a computer system....
 to run. Typical platforms include a computer's architecture
Computer architecture

Computer architecture in computer engineering is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It is a blueprint and functional description of requirements and design implementations for the various parts of a computer, focusing largely on the way by which the central processing unit performs internally an...
, operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, programming language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
s and related runtime
Runtime

In computer science, runtime or run time describes the operation of a computer program, the duration of its execution, from beginning to termination ....
 libraries or graphical user interface
Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface is a type of user interface which allows people to human-computer interaction such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment....
.

Hardware, operating system and virtual machine
In relation to hardware
Computer hardware

A personal computer is made up of computer hardware, multiple physical components onto which can be loaded into a multitude of software that perform the functions of the computer....
, platform often describes the set of hardware components that make up the computer itself, that the software is written to target (often just described as "written for an architecture").






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In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a platform describes some sort of hardware architecture
Hardware architecture

In engineering, hardware architecture refers to the identification of a system's physical components and their interrelationships. This description, often called a hardware design model, allows hardware designers to understand how their components fit into a system architecture and provides software component designers important inf...
 or software framework
Software framework

A software framework, in computer programming, is an abstraction in which common code providing generic functionality can be selectively overridden or specialized by user code providing specific functionality....
 (including application framework
Application framework

In computer programming, an application framework is a software framework that is used to implement the standard structure of an application software for a specific operating system....
s), that allows software
Computer software

Computer software, or just software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, Algorithm and Software documentation that perform some tasks on a computer system....
 to run. Typical platforms include a computer's architecture
Computer architecture

Computer architecture in computer engineering is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It is a blueprint and functional description of requirements and design implementations for the various parts of a computer, focusing largely on the way by which the central processing unit performs internally an...
, operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, programming language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
s and related runtime
Runtime

In computer science, runtime or run time describes the operation of a computer program, the duration of its execution, from beginning to termination ....
 libraries or graphical user interface
Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface is a type of user interface which allows people to human-computer interaction such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment....
.

Hardware, operating system and virtual machine


In relation to hardware
Computer hardware

A personal computer is made up of computer hardware, multiple physical components onto which can be loaded into a multitude of software that perform the functions of the computer....
, platform often describes the set of hardware components that make up the computer itself, that the software is written to target (often just described as "written for an architecture"). Pure assembly language can be run on this hardware platform, but most commonly, operating system software is written to target it. But in doing so, it becomes a platform in itself, facilitating the running of other software that is used to target the operating system, and likewise the hardware architecture. Furthermore, software that is written for the operating system can be used to support the running of other software: for example a virtual machine
Virtual machine

In computer science, a virtual machine is a software implementation of a machine that executes programs like a real machine.Definitions...
 (which targets a certain operating system/hardware) that is used to run other programs that are written for it, which constitutes another platform.

Role in software


A platform is a crucial element in software development. A platform might be simply defined as 'a place to launch software'. It is an agreement that the platform provider gave to the software developer that logic code will interpret consistently as long as the platform is running on top of other platforms. Logic code includes byte code, source code
Source code

In computer science, source code is any collection of statements or declarations written in some human-readable computer programming language....
, and machine code
Machine code

Machine code or machine language is a system of instructions and data executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Machine code may be regarded as a primitive programming language or as the lowest-level representation of a compiled and/or assembly language computer program....
.

Background


Platforms are frequently mentioned with API
Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a set of subroutine, data structures, class and/or Protocol provided by library and/or operating system Service s in order to support the building of applications....
s. A complete suite of API
Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a set of subroutine, data structures, class and/or Protocol provided by library and/or operating system Service s in order to support the building of applications....
s constitute another type of platform called software platform. Software Platforms frequently are dependent to operating systems. However this is not always true. For example, two popular non-OS dependent platforms are 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 ....
, as mentioned above, and BREW
Brew

GeneralBrew may refer to:*Brewing, the production of beverages and fuels through fermentation*Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, a development platform for mobile phones...
 for mobile phones.

Java

Java programs are a typical example of the latter point. Java source code is "compiled" to an intermediate-language bytecode
Bytecode

Bytecode 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 language....
 which is then interpreted by an interpreter, the JVM, which then interfaces that program with the Java software libraries. In phones, PDA
Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant is a handheld computer, also known as a palmtop computer. Newer PDAs also have both color screens and audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones, , web browsers, or portable media players....
s and other wireless mobile devices, these libraries are the Java ME. Some phones, even without a full fledged OS, enable Java programs such as games to operate. Java and the bytecode are said to be platform independent. But this is because Java is the platform as well as a programming language. Software really cannot operate without a platform or be platform independent. The programming language is referred to here, meaning the programmer need not be concerned about the hardware or operating system platform, nor will the language change with a different platform.

.NET

Microsoft .NET is an umbrella term that applies to a wide collection of products and technologies from Microsoft. Most have in common a dependence on the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Operating system platform examples

  • Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows

    Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
  • Linux
    Linux

    Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license...
  • AmigaOS
    AmigaOS

    AmigaOS 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....
  • Solaris
  • Mac OS
    Mac OS

    Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
     backward compatibility via Rosetta
    Rosetta (software)

    Rosetta is a lightweight binary translation for Mac OS X distributed by Apple Inc.. It enables applications compiled for the PowerPC family of processors to run on Apple systems that use Intel central processing units....
  • WINE platform to behave like Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows

    Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....


Software platform examples

  • 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 ....
     - JDK and JRE
  • .NET Framework
    .NET Framework

    The Microsoft .NET Framework is a software framework that is available with several Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes a large Library of coded solutions to prevent common programming problems and a virtual machine that manages the execution of programs written specifically for the Software framework....
  • Mozilla Prism
    Mozilla Prism

    Mozilla Prism, previously known as WebRunner, is a product in development which integrates web applications with the Desktop environment, allowing web applications to be launched from the desktop and configured Browserless....
     XUL and XUL Runner
  • Adobe AIR
  • Mono
    Mono (software)

    Mono is a project led by Novell to create an Ecma International standard compliant, .NET Framework-compatible set of tools, including among others a C Sharp compiler and a Common Language Runtime....


Hardware examples

  • Supercomputer
    Supercomputer

    A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
     architectures.
  • RISC processor based machines running UNIX variants:
    • Sun
      Sun Microsystems

      Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational corporation vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982....
       computers running the Solaris operating system.
    • DEC Alpha
      DEC Alpha

      Alpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, was a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations....
       cluster
      Cluster Computing

      Cluster Computing: the Journal of Networks, Software Tools and Applications is a journal for parallel processing, distributed computing systems, and computer communication networks....
       running under OpenVMS
      OpenVMS

      OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX and DEC Alpha families of computers, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts, Massachusetts , and most recently on Hewlett-Packard systems built around the In...
      .
  • Macintosh
    Macintosh

    File:Imac alu.pngMacintosh, commonly shortened to Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc....
    , custom Apple Computer hardware and Mac OS
    Mac OS

    Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
     operating system (now migrated on x86).
    • Newton
      Newton (platform)

      The Newton platform was an early personal digital assistant hardware/software platform developed by Apple Inc. . Development was started in 1989 and officially ended on February 27, 1998....
       devices running the Newton OS
      Newton OS

      Newton OS was the operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997. Newton OS was written entirely in C++ and trimmed to be low power consuming and use the available memory efficiently....
      , also from Apple.
  • Commodity computer platforms, such as:
    • Wintel
      Wintel

      Wintel is portmanteau of Microsoft Windows and Intel. It usually means a computer based on an Intel x86 compatible processor and running the Microsoft Windows operating system....
      , that is, Intel x86 or compatible hardware
      Hardware

      Hardware is a general term that refers to the physical cultural artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware....
       and Windows
      Microsoft Windows

      Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
       operating system.
    • x86 with other 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....
       systems such as BSD
      Berkeley Software Distribution

      Berkeley Software Distribution is the Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995....
       variants.
  • Gumstix
    Gumstix

    Gumstix is a US-based technology company that designs, builds and sells full-function miniature computers and related products. The small form factor gumstix "is just a computer"....
     full function miniature computers with Linux
    Linux

    Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license...
    .
  • A mainframe computer
    Mainframe computer

    Mainframes are computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, Enterprise Resource Planning, and financial transaction processing....
     with its custom operating system, say an IBM z/OS
    Z/OS

    z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for mainframe computers, created by IBM. It is the successor to OS/390, which in turn followed MVS and combined a number of formerly separate, related products....
    .
  • A midrange computer
    Midrange computer

    Midrange computers, or midrange systems, are a class of computer systems which fall in between mainframe computers and microcomputers. The range emerged in the 1960s and were more generally known at the time as minicomputers....
     with its custom operating system, say an IBM OS/400
    OS/400

    IBM i is an operating system used on IBM Power Systems, a unified server platform from the former IBM System i and IBM System p servers. IBM i was formerly known as i5/OS or OS/400....
    .
  • ARM architecture
    ARM architecture

    The ARM architecture is a 32-bit RISC central processing unit architecture developed by ARM Limited that is widely used in embedded system designs....
     found in mobile devices.
  • Any variety of video game console
    Video game console

    A video game console is an game development that produces a video signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game. The term "video game console" is used to distinguish a machine designed for consumers to buy and use solely for playing video games from a personal computer, which has many other functions, or arcade machi...
    .


Phone platforms


Symbian

  • UIQ
    UIQ

    UIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party applications....
  • S60 platform
    S60 platform

    The S60 Platform is a platform for mobile phones that runs on Symbian OS. S60 is currently amongst the leading smartphone platforms in the world....


Linux

  • Linux
    Linux

    Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license...
  • Qtopia
    Qtopia

    Qt Extended, formerly known as Qtopia until September 30, 2008, is an application platform for Embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants and mobile phones....
  • Android
  • LIMO
  • Openmoko
    Openmoko Linux

    Openmoko Linux is an operating system for smartphones developed by First International Computer. It is based on the ?ngstr?m distribution, comprising various pieces of free software....


Run time

  • JavaFX Mobile
    JavaFX Mobile

    JavaFX Mobile is the JavaFX application platform for mobile devices and a part of JavaFX platform.JavaFX Mobile applications can be developed in the same language, JavaFX Script, as JavaFX applications for browser or desktop, and using the same tools: JavaFX SDK and the JavaFX Production Suite....
  • Java ME
  • Helix
    Helix project

    Helix is a project to produce software that can play audio and video media in various formats, aid in producing such media, and serve them over a network....


Others

  • Android
  • APOXI
  • BREW
    Brew

    GeneralBrew may refer to:*Brewing, the production of beverages and fuels through fermentation*Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, a development platform for mobile phones...
  • iPhone
    IPhone

    The iPhone is an internet-connected multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a flush multi-touch screen and a minimal hardware interface....
  • Palm OS
    Palm OS

    Palm OS is an embedded operating system operating system initially developed by U.S. Robotics Corp.-owned Palm, Inc. for personal digital assistants in 1996....
  • Windows Mobile
    Windows Mobile

    Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....


See also

  • Operating Systems
    Operating system

    An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
  • Application Programming Interface
    Application programming interface

    An application programming interface is a set of subroutine, data structures, class and/or Protocol provided by library and/or operating system Service s in order to support the building of applications....
  • Optimization (Infrastructure & Application Platform)
    Optimization (Infrastructure & Application Platform)

    Optimization Optimization is a structured, systematic process for assessing an organization's IT infrastructure and application platform across capabilities in order to provide an optimization roadmap toward a Dynamic IT....