Firmware Updates Hit Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3
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@Dashrender said:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/mt244352.aspx
Windows Runtime components
Learn more about these self-contained objects that you can initialize and use from any language, including C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, and C++. For example, you could create a Windows Runtime component in C++ that uses a third-party library to perform a computationally expensive operation, or simply reuse some Visual Basic or C# code in your Universal Windows app.As a non programmer, I'm not sure if this is relevant - but I thought (again could be wrong) that the runtime here is what is important for the app working on different platforms?
Actually it turns out that the apps don't even run across different platforms. A runtime like Java would do that, but doesn't here.
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Here is the info from the explanation page:
Universal Windows apps – What they aren’t
Universal Windows apps involve a lot of backend improvements for developers that encourage development on Windows Phone and Windows 8. They are not, however, completely the same in terms of code; nor does it mean that developers can just push a button to make those apps on either platform (though it is close!). Developers will still need to code for one, share the code for another platform, and do some fine-tuning and optimization.
So app development across Windows and Windows Phone is easier, but it's not exactly the same either. We’ll skip the gory details about app development, coding, shared libraries and such things, but that’s the take away here.
For instance, the new app Movie Maker 8.1 is a universal app. That means for those who bought the Windows Phone version, the Windows 8.1 app will be ‘free’ because Venetasoft can now enable such a feature through shared publishing resources. But if you noticed, the Windows 8.1 version is not yet live, because it needs some final polish before going to the Store. If it were ‘the same app’, you could get it now.
Likewise for Movie Moments and Reading List, which are both universal Windows apps that were just released today.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Here is the info from the explanation page:
Universal Windows apps – What they aren’t
Universal Windows apps involve a lot of backend improvements for developers that encourage development on Windows Phone and Windows 8. They are not, however, completely the same in terms of code; nor does it mean that developers can just push a button to make those apps on either platform (though it is close!). Developers will still need to code for one, share the code for another platform, and do some fine-tuning and optimization.
So app development across Windows and Windows Phone is easier, but it's not exactly the same either. We’ll skip the gory details about app development, coding, shared libraries and such things, but that’s the take away here.
For instance, the new app Movie Maker 8.1 is a universal app. That means for those who bought the Windows Phone version, the Windows 8.1 app will be ‘free’ because Venetasoft can now enable such a feature through shared publishing resources. But if you noticed, the Windows 8.1 version is not yet live, because it needs some final polish before going to the Store. If it were ‘the same app’, you could get it now.
Likewise for Movie Moments and Reading List, which are both universal Windows apps that were just released today.
This is exactly as I already understood it to be. Though I admit to stating it more plainly... but the end goal for MS is to have a write once, publish everywhere type of ecosystem for apps that make sense one both platforms (desktop and mobile). though I'm sure it will always require that the dev make specific tweeks for display, etc based on platform.
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@Dashrender said:
Though I admit to stating it more plainly... but the end goal for MS is to have a write once, publish everywhere type of ecosystem for apps that make sense one both platforms
No, that's not what this is saying. This is not "write once, publish everywhere." That's exactly what this is saying that this is not. You still have to change the code for each platform. The whole point there was that isn't what you thought that it was.
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Here is a line: "Developers will still need to code for one, share the code for another platform, and do some fine-tuning and optimization."
That's what we have without the universal platform. iOS and Mac OSX share languages and tools. When you write an app you have to choose for it to go to iOS or OSX. What makes it "not universal" is that you have to have the code produce two different outputs to run.
The universal HTML5 system does not require this. It is write once. Just like Java. One code.
The Windows system is no different than the Mac one and as Mac has been since iOS first released - the resulting application is not universal at all. We already had the minor tweaks bit, they are just pointing out that it hasn't changed.
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In theory APKs will even run on ChromeOS. It's a bit dirty, but no emulation or anything.
https://www.maketecheasier.com/running-android-apps-on-linux/
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From that Microsoft page, the Universal Apps only have access to a limited about of the Win32 API. So they can't do all of the things that normal desktop apps can do:
Win32 APIs in the UWP
A UWP app or Windows Runtime Component written in C++/CX has access to the Win32 APIs that are part of the UWP. These Win32 APIs are implemented by all Windows 10 device families. Link your app with Windowsapp.lib. Windowsapp.lib is an "umbrella" lib that provides the exports for the UWP APIs. Linking to Windowsapp.lib will add to your app dependencies on dlls that are present on all Windows 10 device families.
For the full list of Win32 APIs available to UWP apps, see API Sets for UWP apps and Dlls for UWP apps.
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@scottalanmiller said:
From that Microsoft page, the Universal Apps only have access to a limited about of the Win32 API. So they can't do all of the things that normal desktop apps can do:
Win32 APIs in the UWP
A UWP app or Windows Runtime Component written in C++/CX has access to the Win32 APIs that are part of the UWP. These Win32 APIs are implemented by all Windows 10 device families. Link your app with Windowsapp.lib. Windowsapp.lib is an "umbrella" lib that provides the exports for the UWP APIs. Linking to Windowsapp.lib will add to your app dependencies on dlls that are present on all Windows 10 device families.
For the full list of Win32 APIs available to UWP apps, see API Sets for UWP apps and Dlls for UWP apps.
Again, I felt that I knew this - what I did wonder was, what functionality was gone from this Universal method? And would it cause people to not want to program in it?
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@Dashrender said:
Again, I felt that I knew this - what I did wonder was, what functionality was gone from this Universal method? And would it cause people to not want to program in it?
My guess is... not a lot and only people making complex stuff. But it will keep old apps from working for a very, very long time.
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Top Android development frameworks, many of them are cross platform...
http://linuxgizmos.com/top-10-open-source-android-app-development-frameworks/
