Re: GNOME needs VA's help?

[Peter Petrakis <peterpan wn net>]

<snip>
>> As for the gtk_label_set -> gtk_label_set_text change, a #define
>> was added for source compatibility. You can't expect binary
>> compatibility between development releases can you? 
>
>  Peter> Sure you can. Just do it all on Alphas. It's almost like java
>  Peter> except "write once compile anywhere".
> 
> You think that compiling on an Alpha will solve that problem? You must
> be confused.
>

100% of the time, building on Alpha will find more bugs and improve the
quality on the software on all platforms. With the above example yes
building on Alpha wouldn't have solved that problem/mistake (of course
it would have caught it) but wouldn't it not be able to build on any
platform? Alot of the engineering and graphics software companies who
make Alpha products build it there first cause it may extend development
time slightly but more bugs will be caught in the making of the program
rather than in the testing or even the first release. Once it builds on
Alpha clean and runs smooth it will compile on nearly any platform
because of it's high quality. Even if you don't care about the Alpha
platform you still want to develop on it for the these reason:

1.) Build it great the first time and avoid service packs and bug fixes
later
2.) Write software for many platforms with building and testing on one.
This drasticly cuts               down time porting to another arch and
platform cause you've allready built on the most         exacting and
powerfull architechture there is.  
3.) 64 bit to 32 bit porting is much easier than vice versa.
4.) Coding on Alpha increases your skill

To sum it up, Alpha increases the quality  of your software period.

Alpha Powered,
Peter Petrakis  

-- 
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