programming-for-dummies

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Cross-Platform Programming
The growing trend these days is to support multiple operating systems, which
requires a language that not only makes it easy to write more complicated
programs, but also makes it easy to write and develop programs for multiple
operating systems. To thrive, the language of the future needs to make writing
complicated programs easier than C++, be as efficient as possible, and run on
multiple operating systems at the same time.
Cross-Platform Programming
In the old days, writing programs to run on multiple operating systems was a
waste of time because most people only used the same operating system.
WordPerfect, a once popular word processor, wasted millions of dollars and
several years devoting itsresources to creating a version of WordPerfect that
ran on MS-DOS, Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST computers.
Although WordPerfect focused on making its word processor run on multiple
operating systems (known as cross-platform capabilities), Microsoft focused
on making its Microsoft Word program run efficiently on a single operating
system (Windows) and nearly wiped WordPerfect off the face of the Earth.
The problem wasn’t that WordPerfect spent time writing a cross-platform
version of its word processor. The problem was that it wasted time supporting
operating systems that hardly anybody used. The number of people who used
Atari ST and Commodore Amiga computers was miniscule compared to the
number of people who used Macintosh computers, and the number of people
who used Macintosh computers was just as tiny compared to the number of
people who used MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.
Cross-platform capabilities make sense only when supporting operating systems
of near equal popularity. The most straightforward way to write a cross-platform
program is to do what WordStar did — write identical programs with two completely
different languages. That’s possible for simple programs, but for more
complicated programs, that approach takes too much time.
The portability of C
One reason why the C language has proven so popular is because of its
portability. The C language is relatively simple, which makes it easy to create
C compilers for different operating systems. That also makes compiling C
programs to run on different operating systems with minimal changes easy.
Writing programs in C is how companies, like Microsoft and Adobe, can develop
and sell programs that run on both Windows and the Macintosh, such as
Microsoft Word and Photoshop. The bulk of their programs run identically on
both operating systems, so all they need to do is write a small portion of their
program to customize it to run on each particular operating system.