Re: Basic cross-platfrom program?

[David Ayers]

Randall Meadows wrote:
> We have a server program written in standard C; it listens for and 
> accepts network connections, parses requests, does some processing, and 
> returns the requested data; it also uses X Windows library calls to 
> build a raster image.  It all work just peachy, running (currently) on 
> Mac OS X and various versions of Solaris, with the help of X Windows 
> (generally the same code base for both, save some basic necessary 
> platform-dependent issues).  There is a Win32 version as well, though it 
> hasn't been updated to use the X Windows stuff yet, and quite frankly, 
> hasn't been used in a good number of years; we're starting to get some 
> customers asking about running their installations on Windows servers 
> instead of Solaris boxes, so I'm revisiting the issue now.
>
> I'm also about to embark on a major update to the program; enhanced API, 
> new capabilities, and such.  Fresh off pet project I wrote (mainly for 
> self-education) using Cocoa and Objective-C, I've found I have a 
> foundness for that combination.  I've got the language syntax down, and 
> know enough of Cocoa to be dangerous.  The problem is, that pet project 
> was my first foray into both Cocoa and ObjC, and I must admit I'm not 
> sure where the division lies in terms of functionality. For instance, 
> NSObject: Is that Cocoa, or something provided by the ObjC runtime?  
> Likewise with the memory management (reference counting)?

Both Cocoa (well, actually OpenStep, the specification of Cocoa's 
predecessor).

> Would it be worth (and is it even possible) to add the new functionality 
> to my program using some ObjC, keeping a good portion of the existing C 
> base, and have it work seamlessly under Mac OS X, Win32 (most likely W2K 
> or W2K3 servers), and Solaris 8 (on Sparcs)? It is a command-line 
> program, with no GUI, and no local user interaction (all communication 
> is done via network connections only). X Windows is required on all 
> platforms (or at least will be, when I get around to updating the Win32 
> stuff).
>
> I notice from the GNUstep web site that GNUtep under Windows with CygWin 
> is "unstable", and Solaris 8 isn't even mentioned.  That kind of makes 
> me believe that I should just stick with straight C, but I'd like to be 
> told different[ly].  The Cygwin.README found there says why it's 
> unstable under Cygwin, but it's also almost 2 years old (September 
> 2002); have things changed since then?

IIRC, there has been quite some work since then, but I'm sure people at 
discuss-gnustep@ will be able to give you more concrete information.

I'll cross-post this to both lists, but I believe discuss-gnustep@ is 
the more appropriate list for these kinds of questions.  We intended 
this list for language lawyers type question and the integration of the 
Apple and GNU runtimes (a project that's kind of on hold until someone 
(esp on the GNU runtime side) can allocate some time to... and I'm 
working on that wrt to myself.)  So I'd ask everyone to remove 
objc-language@ in you replies (save objections).

Cheers,
David Ayers