Software Portability

2015-08-03

This page is a starting point for exploration of the broad topic of software portability. Comments, corrections and updates are welcome. This page is maintained by Jim Mooney of The Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University. Comments may be addressed to jdm@csee.wvu.edu .

A Definition

An application is portable across a class of environments to the degree that the effort required to transport and adapt it to a new environment in the class is less than the effort of redevelopment.

Portability Resources

Tutorial Slides: Developing Portable Software

Book Outline: Developing Portable Software

A Portability Bibliography

Software Interface Standards

Software Portability Course at WVU.

Technical Reports

TR 93-6: Issues in the Specification and Measurement of Software Portability

TR 94-2: Portability and Reusability: Common Issues and Differences

TR 97-1: Bringing Portability to the Software Process

Funded Projects

 

Study of Operating System Interfaces

An investigation of portability issues in the development of a real-time, communications-oriented operating system interface, CTRON, a subproject of the TRON Project. Funded by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and the TRON Association. 1988-1994. Completed.

 

Studies in Cost Effective Software Portability

An investigation of a broad variety of portability issues, with emphasis on cost-effective techniques for developing portable software. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 1992-1995. Completed.

 

Computational Materials Science Project

An investigation of a broad range of issues related to computational materials science. This project was conducted by a large interdisciplinary group funded by the NSF EPSCoR program. An important goal has been improving the quality of high-performance parallel software, including portability. 1993-1997. Completed.