Question about developing programs

[Mark Eggers]

> From: Andrew Konosky <TerranAce007 at comcast.net>
> Subject: Question about developing programs...

> I have been writing a small program in C++ with KDevelop to calculate 
> vectors for physics class, and I have compiled and installed it so that 
> it runs when I type the command in the console, which is really cool! If 
> I want to cross-compile it to make a windows version to give to some of 
> my friends, how would I do that? I'm guessing it would just be a DOS 
> file, since there is no gui?

I'm guessing that there are several ways to approach this.

1. Write the program in a language with executables that runs on 
   multiple platforms.

a) Java and have your friend download the Sun JRE
b) Mono (C#) and have your friend install .NET runtime

2. Write the program in an interpreted language which runs on 
   multiple platforms

a) Perl and have your friend install Perl
b) Python and have your friend install Python

3. Build or install a cross-compiler for gcc and g++

a) Download the source for gcc
b) Build the cross-compiler - done via configure
c) Compile with the -bxxx switch to indicate the correct compiler

4. If you have a dual-boot machine, install Cygwin on Windows, then 
   compile under that.  There is a switch to build a static binary.

a) Install Cygwin on Windows
b) Install the C / C++ compiler
c) I don't remember the compiler switch - plow through the man page

Just some thoughts - generic C++ should work OK across all platforms.

/mde/
just my two cents . . . .