Tut10: Developing Portable Software

Room: Marmier

Presenter:

James D. Mooney, West Virginia University, USA

Abstract

Software portability is an attribute that is always cited as desirable, but rarely receives systematic attention in the software development process. With the growing diversity of computing platforms and especially the rapid growth of pocket computing devices, it t is increasingly likely that software of all types may need to migrate to a variety of environments and platforms over its lifetime. This tutorial is designed to show you how to design portability into your software, and how to port it when required.
Well-known strategies for achieving portability include use of standard languages, system interface standards, portable libraries and compilers, etc. These tools are important, but they are not a substitute for a consistent portability strategy during the development process. The problems are compounded considerably by the more demanding requirements of much present-day software, including timing constraints, distribution, and sophisticated user interfaces.
The portability problem is often affected by the "silver bullet" syndrome. Innovations such as FORTRAN, POSIX, Ada, TRON, CORBA, Java, and the World Wide Web have all promised to provide universal portability. All of these have helped, but none have provided a complete solution. We will examine both the value and the limitations of these technologies.
The proposed tutorial will introduce a broad framework of portability issues, but concentrate on practical techniques for bringing portability considerations to the software development process. The presentation is addressed both to individual software designers and to those participating in an organized development process. A small but illustrative case study will be presented, evolving from initial specifications to an implementation in several diverse environments. Issues in porting across real, current environments will be stressed. A set of notes and reprints of selected papers will be distributed.

Presenter

James D. Mooney has taught computer science at West Virginia University for 25 years. He has a long record of research, teaching, and standardization activities related to software portability. He chaired the working group that developed IEEE Standard 855 for Microprocessor Operating System Interfaces (MOSI), and he has performed studies of system interfaces as a researcher affiliated with the CTRON Committee, a part of Japan's TRON project. In addition, he contributed to the ISO/IEC JTC-1 TSG-1 study on application portability. He has published several papers on portability topics, including a survey article which has been cited prominently in software engineering textbooks. Dr. Mooney was the Principal Investigator for a two-year study funded by the National Science Foundation, entitled "Studies in Cost-Effective Software Portability". He has developed and teaches a course at West Virginia University entitled "Developing Portable Software", and he is developing a textbook with the same title.rs Magazine.