A Practical Approach to Cross-Platform Development

Paul Rohr,
Software Craftsman,
AbiSource, Inc.

Abstract

The design and implementation of cross-platform software is hard. Most approaches to this problem involve the use of abstraction layers to hide platform-specific portions of code. Commonly, designers attempt to provide a complete abstraction layer which completely insulates the program's algorithms from non-portable code. In the AbiWord project, we embrace the fact that platform-specific code is a necessity, and we adopt an architecture which helps us deal with it, rather than an architecture which helps us avoid it. This session will discuss the techniques which were used in the development of the world's only Open Source, cross-platform word processor.

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• AbiWord format (44K)
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Presentation History

• Linux World Conference and Expo, New York
  Friday, February 4th 2000
  Session 64 (9:00 am - 10:15 am)