Talk:Computing platform

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Poes I think there should be something here about the vagueness of the term platform. Most people mean platform to mean hardware-type/architecture + operating system, but what about:

VirtualPC on Macintosh hardware?
VMware? Is VMware on intel with a windows base-OS a different platform than VMware on intel with a Linux base-OS?
Java?
Hard or soft domains on high-end HP, IBM, or Sun hardware?

I think that VirtualPC and VMware should be considered simulated platforms. However their purpose is mainly to simulate a different platform than the host OS. I think the purpose of a platform is to allow a software to run on a new device, processor, machine, etc.. Roughly, I think a platform is a structure to allow other things to stand or operate.

Simply said I think 'a platform is a structure(HW or SW) that allows an application to run'.

Please see from a software developer/vendor point. For example a new processor is manufactured but nobody can use it. And if you wanted to develop games or a word application to develop and sell. You would need a platform to interface with the IC. Most of the time, this would mean an OS. But for example, many do not consider BREW as an operating system. (BREW allows Java and other software to run). Also, many consider Java a platform. A platform does not have to be as sophisticated as an OS. A platform is like a low level OS.

When a new processor is manufactured, there is a scramble to create a platform. Should we create a separate category, e.g. software platform, ? disambiguation page ? Jondel

TO DO

Hi! I (answered myself!)will be creating a software platform in a little while. Somebody (thats me) has to create a relationship explanation between platforms and APIs. Jondel

Done. Please feel free to edit or delete the software definition.

Would like to add

'A platform is crucial element for APIs to function.'
Some phones don't have a full fledged OS but J2MEs/Java to allow developers to create games and applications.

MORE TO DO

Houston, we have a problem. We have a page on "Computing platform" and another on "Platform computing". The content overlaps by about 80% (and neither is very good). We need to merge the content, turn one page into a link to the other, and then build out from there.

The definition of computing platform used here is much too limited. A good starting point would be the book Invisible Engines (Evans/Haqiu/Schmalensee). We need to introduce the distinction between one-sided platforms (e.g. Sony Playstation) and two-sided (e.g. MS Windows). The whole Platform-as-a-Service (e.g. Google App Engine) and Software-as-a-Service (e.g. Salesforce.com) also needs to be tied in. Geoffarnold

Software

When a new device, computer or chip comes out, developers would like to develop software applications. For example, when a new phone comes out, some would like to develop games. The problem is how to interface. As mentioned, a platform ussually refers to the OS. But they are not always the same thing. An example is Java or J2ME and BREW on phones. Although Java is a language, its JVM allows it to perform as a platform. Ussually, a complete set of APIs constitute a platform.

JAVA

This use of the word platform for Java came about only because Sun decided to call it that. It creates a difficult time for the primary definition and is ambiguous. It should be set aside on a disambiguity page, and/or taken out of this article. A computing platform consists of a specific type of CPU and Operating System. Ste4k 13:39, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

GUI

Adding GUI as a platform, although Windows bundled GUI, however kernel is OS, Gnome and KDE also in my view a platform on it's own i.e. Gnome GTK+ Vs Kde QT. There are different although most Linux Distribution support both. —Preceding unsigned comment added by My wing hk (talk • contribs) 11:14, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Grammar problems...?

Could someone please clarify what is meant in the following phrase?

It is an agreement that the platform provider gave to the software developer that logic code will interpret consistently

I believe there could be a missing preposition or something...anyways, it is a bit confusing, so if you could clear it up it would be greatly appreciated.Weekipedian (talk) 21:39, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]