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The Holy Grail of Software Development
“Write Once/Run anywhere” has been a dream of software developers for decades. It’s like a Holy Grail or Eldorado…something really valuable; something precious; something always just a rumor away that never crystalizes into reality. How do we define the Holy Grail today?
In past years the Grail was found in libraries that if used when writing your software code would provide the different code necessary for different environments. You could write your software in C or C++ including an equalizing library, and it could be compiled to run under many different operating systems.
HTML was standardized with the intent to define a common interface. In my opinion, because it wasn’t rich enough, companies creating browsers found it necessary to go beyond the standardized HTML in order to provide enough usable features, resulting in more work rather than less for the developer.The capabilities of the standard HTML were not useful for much more than hypertext (the original intent).
Java came out with an engine that could be embedded in multiple operating systems, replacing the need for a library. All you needed was a Java Virtual Machine as the equalizing mechanism.
Dot net copied java with the virtual machine, exposing the interfaces allowing virtual machines to be written on multiple platforms, and allowing the same code to be run in multiple locations. Even better, Microsoft made it possible for multiple languages to be used to develop code for that same virtual machine.
Of course there were the downloadable techniques for creating a common experience such as active x Applets, java Applets, Flash, Silverlight. Again the goal was to write once, run anywhere. These all ran in multiple browsers while providing a common experience. The problem was that the engine had to be downloaded and required more resources on the client machine.
Today the latest holy grail has ended up back in the browser with the HTML 5 specification. Today it is rich enough that browser development companies supporting the standard provide a rich set of capabilities for many applications. But has/will it materialize into a real holy grail as projected?
Since the dream of “Write Once/Run Anywhere” first started getting traction the landscape has now changed in a unique way. No longer are we supporting multiple operating systems, or even multiple browser manufacturers; now we are also supporting multiple user interfaces. Today we now have smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops and servers. We now have virtual machines, and vastly different underlying capacities. Screen shapes and sizes are radically different. User controls range from touch screens with gestures, push buttons on a phone, keyboards, mice, track balls, touch pads, pens, plus others I don’t use regularly.
So, even though HTML5 brings us closer than ever before, has the definition of “Write Once/Run Anywhere” changed so much that the concept is essentially impossible? Does it mean that HTML5 has limited value? Here’s what Matt Baxter-Reynolds thinks about the question from his editorial on ZDNet. http://www.zdnet.com/heres-why-html-based-apps-dont-work-7000012942
What do you think? Share your thoughts by writing btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
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