Porting Visual C++ applications from Windows to Macintosh
ph...@luxor.latrobe.edu.au
I would like to know what the options are for porting an application developed
for Windows using Visual C++ to the Macintosh. I know Microsoft have released
a cross- complier for doing just this, but I have not heard about anyone using
it and, since it costs a fortune, I would like some idea about how well it
works and what the compatibility issues are before committing. It has also
been suggested that it might be possible to get a version of Visual C++ for the
Mac and, after making some modifications, to compile the application on the Mac
as if it were native to the Mac. The big question about this is what is the
portability of the interface to the Foundation Classes across platforms like?
I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has done this either successfully
or otherwise, for some indication of the effort involved in either approach and
the major pitfalls.
Mark Zangari
La Trobe University
BUNDOORA, Vic. 3083, Australia.
M.Za...@latrobe.edu.au
Todd Davis
I've used it quite a bit over the last 6-9 months (version 2.0, not
4.0) and it works quite well. Unless you're doing a lot of graphics
(animation) you'll have no problem with it. Things to be careful of
include trying to get on a lan by yourself or at least one with very
little traffic. The one I was using was pretty heavily loaded which
made the NT->Mac connection drop quite often. (Debugging is done by
running the app on the Mac and the Debugger on NT with info passing
through the network).
You can also use any native Mac API that you want, there are no
restrictions (there are some other things you need to take care of if
you decide to do that, but there is no prohibition against it).
As far as I know, there is no Visual C++ compiler on the Mac.
When you write your code, it's just like writing for Windows, MFC
makes the whole thing completely transparent (for the most part). That
"most part" has mostly to do with animations, etc.
On the whole, I was quite pleased with it.
--t.
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Todd Davis to...@finial.com
Finial Software, Inc. http://www.finial.com/ (pgp here)
"Your eyes aren't just the windows to your soul,
they're also the breezeway to your brain." -- Beakman
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