macOS Porting to OS X

[theman5725]

I don't have any program experience, but I was wondering if I could do this with a little work:

Port a program (I have the source code) to OS X. The program is in it's very early stages (like 0.3 or 0.4) so there shouldn't be too much to compile. Of course I don't know much about programming to begin with so maybe this isn't something I'm capable of.

 

[Eraserhead]

what program is it? And what operating system does it run on? Also does it have a GUI?

If it is a Linux program you can probably recompile and run it.

If it's a Windows program you'll probably need to create a new GUI for the Mac, unless it doesn't have one in which case it's easier.

 

[theman5725]

I'll try to explain the GUI.

It's similar to WoW or other games as in the fact that the GUI is located inside the window using graphics taht do not match the operating system in anyway.

It's a Windows program by the way.

 

[mduser63]

What language is it written in? How are the graphics drawn?

If it's written in C, C++, or Java and uses standard stuff for the graphics, porting should be relatively straightforward, although I'm not sure it's really for a beginner.

If it's in C#, uses DirectX or is otherwise tied to Windows, porting is basically going to mean a rewrite.

 

[theman5725]

It's written in C++.

The graphics are extremely simple. The entire program only runs at 640x480 resolution and uses fairly low quality graphics.

 

[HiRez]

If it's written for DirectX, you probably have a lot of work to port it (if it's as graphics-intesive as it sounds). If it's written for OpenGL, it might be fairly easy. I think there are some tools to ease DirectX --> OpenGL porting, but AFAIK those are high-end and probably expensive (meant for large-scale games). The programming language should translate somewhat well (both support C++), but it depends on how heavily it uses Windows-specific API calls. Bottom line is if it wasn't written with future cross-platform porting in mind from the start, it's probably not a trivial project.

 

[theman5725]

It definetly does not use DirectX (well I'm almost postive).

It's built on the Allergo Library and is supposed to be easy to port to other systems.

 

[Soulstorm]

It would be fairly easy to port. But it will need some programming experience to do that, and since you don't have any, you will have a hard time doing it.

 

[cdsboy]

not at all.

He will have no problem porting it at all. It also doesn't require any knowledge to do. The allegro engine is exactly the same for all systems. All that is required is changing the paths to the resource files. I know all of this because i did it without any programing knowledge.

 

[Soulstorm]

He will have no problem porting it at all. It also doesn't require any knowledge to do. The allegro engine is exactly the same for all systems. All that is required is changing the paths to the resource files. I know all of this because i did it without any programing knowledge.

The engine may be multiplatform, but system-specific optimizations may be needed.