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Yeah, fortunately this is not how software works in practice. The best example is probably the PC market, which is fragmented to such a degree that the hardware

Yeah, fortunately this is not how software works in practice. The best example is probably the PC market, which is fragmented to such a degree that the hardware permutations are uncountable -- and yet Windows, Linux, other major operating systems and applications all manage to deliver stable, consistent user experiences. The situation with Android is parallel: lots of different hardware, but basically still a "write once, run everywhere" environment. (Everywhere being any phone with a legit Android environment.) Similarly to when you're developing on a PC, you occasionally need to know something about the specific hardware or version you're running against, but more often than not, you just code, and it just works.

msy 16y ago
Mobile is a different ball game. To start with, while hardware is more varied it's also got far more standardised input hardware - there's a keyboard and there's a mouse and you can rely on that being the primary input. On Android there will be a touch screen, but it's size, resolution and accuracy will vary. There may be buttons but their quantity and makeup will vary. The second factor is that you cannot get away with bad UI as much as you can on the desktop. On the desktop it's frustrating but survivable, on mobile it's a death knell. It'd be more accurate to call it write once, run poorly everywhere.
deleted 16y ago
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lemming 16y ago
Edit: insert irony about shocking mis-post blunder due to an interface quirk of my Android phone here. I suspect that it's more realistic to compare Android development to PC development, say 5 or 10 years ago than now. When I was developing games 10-12 years ago there was a staggering array of different displays, processor speeds, internet connection speeds, colour depths etc etc, whereas now on pretty much any PC you'll have true colour, decent display, decent connection etc. I suspect that game developers still have to wrestle with capability differences more than the rest of us, but for "normal" applications any PC is good enough these days. Windows and the related drivers are also much more stable and consistent now. I don't think Android is there yet, but I suppose it will be within a couple of years. Disclaimer: I've never written an Android app.

msy 16y ago

Mobile is a different ball game. To start with, while hardware is more varied it's also got far more standardised input hardware - there's a keyboard and there's a mouse and you can rely on that being the primary input. On Android there will be a touch screen, but it's size, resolution and accuracy will vary. There may be buttons but their quantity and makeup will vary. The second factor is that you cannot get away with bad UI as much as you can on the desktop. On the desktop it's frustrating but survivable, on mobile it's a death knell. It'd be more accurate to call it write once, run poorly everywhere.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

lemming 16y ago

Edit: insert irony about shocking mis-post blunder due to an interface quirk of my Android phone here. I suspect that it's more realistic to compare Android development to PC development, say 5 or 10 years ago than now. When I was developing games 10-12 years ago there was a staggering array of different displays, processor speeds, internet connection speeds, colour depths etc etc, whereas now on pretty much any PC you'll have true colour, decent display, decent connection etc. I suspect that game developers still have to wrestle with capability differences more than the rest of us, but for "normal" applications any PC is good enough these days. Windows and the related drivers are also much more stable and consistent now. I don't think Android is there yet, but I suppose it will be within a couple of years. Disclaimer: I've never written an Android app.