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portabilitymore about portability

portability


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Portability  \Port`a*bil"i*ty\,  n. 
  The  quality  or  state  of  being  portable;  fitness  to  be 
  carried. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  portability 
  n  :  the  quality  of  being  light  enough  to  be  carried 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  portability 
 
  system,  programming>  The  ease  with  which  a  piece  of 
  software  (or  {file  format})  can  be  "ported",  i.e.  made  to  run 
  on  a  new  {platform}  and/or  compile  with  a  new  {compiler}. 
 
  The  most  important  factor  is  the  language  in  which  the 
  software  is  written  and  the  most  portable  language  is  almost 
  certainly  {C}  (though  see  {Vaxocentrism}  for  counterexamples). 
  This  is  true  in  the  sense  that  C  compilers  are  available  for 
  most  systems  and  are  often  the  first  compiler  provided  for  a 
  new  system.  This  has  led  several  compiler  writers  to  compile 
  other  languages  to  C  code  in  order  to  benefit  from  its 
  portability  (as  well  as  the  quality  of  compilers  available  for 
  it). 
 
  The  least  portable  type  of  language  is  obviously  {assembly 
  code}  since  it  is  specific  to  one  particular  (family  of) 
  {processor}(s).  It  may  be  possible  to  translate  mechanically 
  from  one  assembly  code  (or  even  {machine  code})  into  another 
  but  this  is  not  really  portability.  At  the  other  end  of  the 
  scale  would  come  {interpreted}  or  {semi-compiled}  languages 
  such  as  {LISP}  or  {Java}  which  rely  on  the  availability  of  a 
  portable  {interpreter}  or  {virtual  machine}  written  in  a  lower 
  level  language  (often  C  for  the  reasons  outlined  above). 
 
  The  act  or  result  of  porting  a  program  is  called  a  "port". 
  E.g.  "I've  nearly  finished  the  {Pentium}  port  of  my  big  bang 
  simulation." 
 
  Portability  is  also  an  attribute  of  {file  formats}  and  depends 
  on  their  adherence  to  {standards}  (e.g.  {ISO  8859})  or  the 
  availability  of  the  relevant  viewing"  software  for  different 
  {platforms}  (e.g.  {PDF}). 
 
  (1997-06-18) 
 
 




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