For: cross-platform interchange

In computing, cross-platform (also known as multi-platform) is a term used to refer to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platformsDesign Guidelines: GlossaryMagenta Technology – Glossary. Cross-platform software may be divided into two types; one requires individual building or compilation for each platform that it supports, and the other one can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, e.g., software written in an interpreted language or pre-compiled portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all platforms.

For example, a cross-platform application may run on Microsoft Windows on the x86 architecture, Linux on the x86 architecture and Mac OS X on either the PowerPC or x86 based Apple Macintosh systems. A cross-platform application may run on as many as all existing platforms, or on as few as two platforms.

Platforms

main: Platform (computing) A platform is a combination of hardware and software used to run software applications. A platform can be described simply as an operating system or computer architecture, or it could be the combination of both. Probably the most familiar platform is Microsoft Windows running on the x86 architecture. Other well-known desktop computer platforms include Linux and Mac OS X (both of which are themselves cross-platform). There are, however, many devices such as cellular telephones that are also effectively computer platforms but less commonly thought about in that way. Application software can be written to depend on the features of a particular platform—either the hardware, operating system, or virtual machine it runs on. The Java platform is a virtual machine platform which runs on many operating systems and hardware types, and is a common platform for software to be written for.

Hardware platforms

A hardware platform can refer to a computer's architecture or processor architecture. For example, the x86 and x86-64 CPUs make up one of the most common computer architectures in use in home machines today. These machines commonly run Microsoft Windows, though they can run other operating systems as well, including Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Mac OS X and FreeBSD.

Software platforms

Software platforms can either be an operating system or programming environment, though more commonly it is a combination of both. A notable exception to this is Java, which uses an operating system independent virtual machine for its compiled code, known in the world of Java as bytecode. Examples of software platforms include: