Porting Unix Applications to Windows Nt - Softcover

Lowe, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578700043 ISBN 13: 9781578700042

Publisher: Macmillan Technical Pub, 1997

Synopsis

This book addresses the specific problems you will encounter while considering, planning, and executing a port of your application from Unix to Windows NT. Avoid troubling delays, anticipate problems, and plan ahead. Find the answer to that pivotal question: how can I preserve the substantial investment I made in my program's source code? This book provides expert insight on the intricacies of Windows NT and allows you to gain a deeper understanding of the way the hardware, executive components, kernel device drivers, and user-level software all work together to provide a working solution. A detailed analysis of the NT hardware, executive components, kernel device drivers, and user-level software shows you how each element of NT works together and how you can exploit this synergy within your ported applications.

About this title

Review

If you have a Unix application that you want to run under Windows NT, there's a lot more to the conversion process than simply recompiling the source code. The bitter truth is that the two operating systems do things differently and you're going to have to make significant modifications to your source code in order to get it to run under Windows NT.

The first question Lowe tackles is whether it's worthwhile to port your particular application from Unix to Windows NT--it may be more cost-effective to write a completely new program, or buy one. He provides lists of questions that help you determine whether a porting job will be easy or difficult (e.g., "Does the program use UIL to build user interfaces?"). He helps you identify calls such as fork() and exec() that Windows NT doesn't support. From there, the author goes on to explain the general architectural differences between Windows NT and Unix before detailing the specific differences in the input/output, networking, and graphical user interface systems. A concluding chapter covers the particularities of porting a Posix program to Windows NT, and a companion CD-ROM holds all the GNU Not Unix (GNU) software and Win32 ports of Emacs and visual (vi).

Generally, Lowe seems to acknowledge that porting can only be done on a case-by-case basis, causing all guidebooks to fall into generalities. Despite this drawback, this book does a very good job of pointing out where problems are likely to occur--and suggests helpful ways around many of them. --David Wall

From the Publisher

With Windows NT rapidly becoming accepted as the alternative operating system, many software engineers have begun the process of porting UNIX applications to Windows NT. This book will provide detailed comparisons of Windows NT's DCE environment with that of UNIX, and discussions of Windows NT architecture for system and applications programmers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Macmillan Technical Pub
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578700043
• ISBN 13: 9781578700042
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544