Re:How I implemented my own crypto
by barrkel on Thursday August 03, 2017 @05:18AM
(#14918091)
Indeed; the language is portable. Programs written in the language require great effort to be themselves portable.
Also, portability isn't a binary attribute. For every way two platforms vary, there are often a subset of states and transitions that are identical, and two disjoint subsets that are different.
As long as your inputs start out in the identical subset and don't wander too far, you're good to go. For example, if you never put a value above 32767 into an int, you don't really care whether your int is 16 or 32 bits in size. If that int is e.g. line number in a file, it may mean that your program works fine on most files, but only the 32-bit version works correctly on large files. And of course the cleverer you are the closer you're likely to skate to the edge of the common intersection.
Also, portability isn't a binary attribute. For every way two platforms vary, there are often a subset of states and transitions that are identical, and two disjoint subsets that are different.
As long as your inputs start out in the identical subset and don't wander too far, you're good to go. For example, if you never put a value above 32767 into an int, you don't really care whether your int is 16 or 32 bits in size. If that int is e.g. line number in a file, it may mean that your program works fine on most files, but only the 32-bit version works correctly on large files. And of course the cleverer you are the closer you're likely to skate to the edge of the common intersection.