Re:Actually Portable Executable
by Cthulhu_ on Friday February 26, 2021 @09:23AM
(#26275020)
> A world with 2 architectures for mainstream use cases is the future
And the past, I mean PowerPC was a thing for a long time on both Apple desktop systems and servers.
Glad that the compiler toolchains make this transition a lot easier, and Apple has been a major contributor to that. It helped ease the transition from 32 bit ARM to 64 bit ARM, it enabled easy cross-platform apps (Mac Catalyst) and now from x86 to ARM for desktop apps.
And of course it's not particularly new; 25 years ago (ish) Java came out that promised the same thing, one codebase that runs on all architectures. Scripting languages, too.
Re:Actually Portable Executable
by kev009 on Friday February 26, 2021 @07:01PM
(#26281301)
PowerPC was also the dominant embedded platform for two decades (the rover that just landed on Mars is PPC). Point being, ARM's presence in highly vertical markets like embedded or phones means very little to desktops and servers outside of Apple.
And the past, I mean PowerPC was a thing for a long time on both Apple desktop systems and servers.
Glad that the compiler toolchains make this transition a lot easier, and Apple has been a major contributor to that. It helped ease the transition from 32 bit ARM to 64 bit ARM, it enabled easy cross-platform apps (Mac Catalyst) and now from x86 to ARM for desktop apps.
And of course it's not particularly new; 25 years ago (ish) Java came out that promised the same thing, one codebase that runs on all architectures. Scripting languages, too.