[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

Re: gEDA-user: On the nitty-gritty of user-experienced problems



On Saturday 15 January 2005 12:34 pm, Mario Klebsch wrote:

> IMHO the real problem is not tke lack of standards but the unability to
> cope with it. UNIX had a long tradition in being inhomogenous. Open
> Source programs written for UNIX were usually developed and used on a
> wide variety of different systems having a wider variety of different
> configurations. Portability issues were soon discovered.

This issue is not that complicated. As a simple example: Take file descriptor 
based I/O and compare it to standard library based I/O (<stdio.h>). If your 
writing for portability, with certainty, you would use <stdio.h>. Thing is, 
the majority of programmers who work in windows have no clue as to what file 
descriptor based I/O is, but at the same time the majority of UNIX 
programmers are very familiar with both file descriptor based I/O and 
<stdio.h>.  The windows programmers can't write for portability because
for the most part the are ignorant regarding other systems. The UNIX 
programmers can write for portability, but for the most part do not because 
either they A.) Don't want to do the extra work or B.) are self righteous 
and indignant towards any other systems besides the one they use.

The above is my opinion and is based on personal experience. With the key word 
being that it's my opinion (And nothing more).

Best

Marvin Dickens

Attachment: pgpGWlbyYDZ3e.pgp
Description: PGP signature