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Miloslav Ciz 2024-01-29 01:48:12 +01:00
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@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ In connection to software the word *portable* also has one other meaning used ma
## How To Make Portable Programs
In short: use **[abstraction](abstraction.md)** (only necessarily small amount) to not get tied to any specific platform (separate [frontend](frontend.md) and [backend](backend.md)), **[keep it simple](kiss.md)**, **minimize [dependencies](dependency.md)** (minimize use of [libraries](library.md) and requiring hardware such as [floating point](float.md) unit or a [GPU](gpu.md), have [fallbacks](fallback.md)), write efficient, [simple](kiss.md) code (lower hardware demands will support more platforms), avoid platform-specific features (don't write in [assembly](assembly.md) as that's specific to each CPU, don't directly use [Linux](linux.md) [syscalls](syscall.md) as these are specific to Linux etc.). Also use **[self hosting](self_hosting.md)** (i.e. write your programming language in itself etc.) to make your program self contained and minimize dependencies on anything external.
In short: use **[abstraction](abstraction.md)** (only necessarily small amount) to not get tied to any specific platform (separate [frontend](frontend.md) and [backend](backend.md)), **[keep it simple](kiss.md)**, **minimize [dependencies](dependency.md)** (minimize use of [libraries](library.md) and requiring hardware such as [floating point](float.md) unit or a [GPU](gpu.md), have [fallbacks](fallback.md)), write efficient, [simple](kiss.md) code (lower hardware demands will support more platforms), avoid platform-specific features (don't write in [assembly](assembly.md) as that's specific to each CPU, don't directly use [Linux](linux.md) [syscalls](syscall.md) as these are specific to Linux etc.). Also use **[self hosting](self_hosting.md)** (i.e. write your programming language in itself etc.) to make your program **[self contained](self_contained.md)** and minimize dependencies on anything external.
Remember, portability is about **making it easy for a programmer to take your program and make it run elsewhere**, so portability is kind of a mindset, it is about constantly putting oneself in the shoes of someone else with a very different computer and asking questions such as "how hard will it be to make this work if this library isn't available?". Even things that are supposed or commonly expected to be present on all platforms, such as a file system or a raster screen, may not be present on some computers -- always remember this.
Remember, portability is about **making it easy for a programmer to take your program and make it run elsewhere**, so portability is kind of a mindset, it is about constantly putting oneself in the shoes of someone else with a very different computer and asking questions such as "how hard will it be to make this work if this library isn't available?" and "how hard would it be make this work in a desert?"; see also **[bootstrapping](boot.md)**. Even things that are supposed or commonly expected to be present on all platforms, such as a file system or a raster screen, may not be present on some computers -- always remember this.
**Do NOT use big [frameworks](framework.md)/engines** -- it is one of the greatest misconceptions among many inexperienced programmers to think portable software is created with big frameworks, such as the [Godot](godot.md) engine or the [QT](qt.md) framework, which can "single click" export/deploy software to different platforms. This will merely achieve creating a badly [bloated](bloat.md) multiplatform program that's completely dependent on the framework itself which drags along hundreds of [dependencies](dependency.md) and wastes computing resources (RAM, CPU, storage, ...) which are all factors directly contradicting portability. If you for example create a snake game in Godot, you won't be able to port it to [embedded](embedded.md) devices or devices without an operating system even though the snake game itself is simple enough to run on such devices -- the game drags along the whole Godot engine which is so huge, complex and hardware demanding that it prevents the simple game from running on simple hardware.