forum@users.pc9.org
2004-Mar-27 14:20 UTC
Developer's path to Windows/*NIX multi-platform?
I'm an experienced software developer (Electrical Engineering student) who has written plenty of software for DOS, Windows, and *NIX. I've been able to make money selling Windows shareware, and selling manuals+support for GNU GPL'd Linux/UNIX software I develop. So far, all my UNIX software is non-graphical so it compiles and runs easily on Linux through to MacOS. I'm very happy about this and wish to continue developing primarily UNIX software, exclusively in C for low overhead and high efficiency. But I need to start making GUIs :) On the other hand, I have a lot of customers of my Windows software (also written in C using Win32 API calls, no MFC) who I can't abandon. I need to keep supporting Windows natively and hopefully mobile/Windows CE as well. More specifically, I wish to write software that will still run on MS Windows while also running almost-natively on Linux, BSD, Solaris and hopefully even Mac OS. I don't mind compiling individually for each platform (i.e. I don't expect one binary to run on all). But it would be nice to share the same source so I don't have platform-specific forks. I know this is a tall order. I've rejected Java due to what I see as unacceptable overhead and poor efficiency (people are still using some of my software on low-end Pentiums with 16M of RAM). I really want to write in C because it is flexible and because speed is one of my primary goals. I tried using Wine on Linux to run my existing Win32 binaries and although it's pretty close, the appearance and behaviour is NOT close enough to be acceptable for me (lots of GUI glitches; some of them probably my fault). I am willing to re-write my best Windows software from scratch, but I insist that the result is native or almost on Linux so there are not any weird GUI glitches. Do you think Wine is the way to go for me, or am I better off writing individual versions and keeping the Windows software native and then producing QT or GTK versions for *NIX? I'm at a cross-roads here, since I'll be dedicating years of work in whatever direction I take. Sorry for the lengthy question. I imagine there are a slew of other previously-Windows developers facing a similar question who may stumble upon this in the archives! -- forum@users.pc9.org
On Saturday 27 Mar 2004 20:20, forum@users.pc9.org wrote:> ... I wish to write software that will still run on MS > Windows while also running almost-natively on Linux, BSD, Solaris and > hopefully even Mac OS. I don't mind compiling individually for each > platform (i.e. I don't expect one binary to run on all). But it would be > nice to share the same source so I don't have platform-specific forks.You might want to investigate wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) - www.wxwidgets.org - which seems to be used by a variety of major applications including AVG Antivirus and Forte Agent. HTH Stephen
On March 27, 2004 12:20 pm, forum@users.pc9.org wrote:> I'm an experienced software developer (Electrical Engineering student) who> platform (i.e. I don't expect one binary to run on all). But it would be > nice to share the same source so I don't have platform-specific forks.QT.. http://www.trolltech.com -- "Catch the Magic of Linux..." -------------------------------------------------------- Michael Peddemors - Senior Systems Developer LinuxAdministration - Internet Services NetworkServices - Programming - Security Wizard IT Services http://www.wizard.ca Linux Support Specialist - http://www.linuxmagic.com LinuxMagic is a Registered TradeMark of Wizard Tower TechnoServices Ltd. -------------------------------------------------------- (604)589-0037 Beautiful British Columbia, Canada This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.