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What is program portability (code portanbility)
I figured that it is code that can be compiled and run under more than one OS, the reason i am asking this is because i am starting off in OS dev, and i want to know, if i made a C/C++ compiler, could i compile any code with it (i use Windows XP)that doesn't use the windows.h header file??
If not then....ffffuuuuuuuuuuuu.....(u get the idea)
Please help.
>> I figured that it is code that can be compiled and run under more than one OS
Sort of. There's no such thing as 'Program Portability' (no, not even Java programs count - they're interpreted). There's a thing called 'Code portablilty' that refers to the ability to compile and run the same code on multiple OS's.
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could i compile any code with it (i use Windows XP)that doesn't use the windows.h header file??
<<
If the host machine has the correct library's, yes.
There are several interpretations of portability. One interpretation is that compiled code (binaries) can be run on more than one platform.
Another interpretation is that source code can be compiled on one than more platform without making adaptations to it. If you write a C++ code on platform X and if the same code can be compiled without making adaptation ons platform Y, then the code is portable. To reach the goal of writing portable code, the code should be conform the standard and also the used compilers should be. Note that most compilers, if not all, are not conform the standard!