Cross-platform development involves the creation of a single program which operates on multiple operating systems, typically including Windows, Linux, Mac and Mobile. Some applications can even deliver a consistent experience across desktop/mobile, although they aren’t necessarily written in the traditional cross-platform sense (i.e. they may look and function the same, but use completely different technologies under the hood). An example of this is Minecraft – Java on desktop, and C++ on Windows mobile/Android/iOS/Xbox.
Expertise
Cross-Platform Solutions
In today’s market, users expect seamless experiences across operating systems and devices. Blueberry has expertise in Windows custom software development and cross‑platform solutions, and can help you create applications that run on Windows, Linux, macOS and mobile platforms from a shared codebase where that is appropriate.
Cross-Platform Development
Looking for Cross-Platform Development? Give us a call.
Introduction
With the continued growth of Linux, macOS and mobile platforms, software product developers are under increasing pressure to deliver versions of their products across multiple environments, while keeping cost and complexity under control.
Blueberry’s primary expertise lies in Windows custom software development, but we have also delivered substantial C++ and other cross‑platform projects, gaining deep experience in designing shared codebases and managing platform‑specific user interfaces and integrations.
This page presents an introduction to cross-platform development which we hope will be useful to some potential customers.
Platform Specifics
Before looking at the options available for cross-platform development, it’s worth taking a quick look at how normal applications are developed for the main platforms:
Windows
Most installed Windows applications are developed in C++, .NET or related frameworks, and typically depend on Microsoft libraries and selected third‑party components. Graphical user interfaces are usually delivered via Windows desktop UI frameworks (for example Win32, WPF, WinUI or cross‑platform toolkits).
Mac
Most installed Mac applications are developed in Objective‑C or Swift, and use macOS Cocoa frameworks for the GUI. macOS is a POSIX‑compliant Unix‑based system, but is heavily customised by Apple, so applications often need to follow platform‑specific conventions and APIs.
Linux
Many traditional Linux desktop applications are developed in C or C++ using the GNU toolchain, and use UI toolkits such as Qt or GTK to manage the graphical parts of the application. Applications are commonly delivered as distribution‑specific packages (for example .deb or .rpm), via app stores, or as containerised deployments, depending on the target environment.
Cross-Platform Development Options
From this description, the scale of the challenge of cross-platform development becomes clear: each of the three major OSes has a completely different development process. Each uses a completely different approach to deliver the user interface.
There are several ways to deliver cross‑platform user interfaces, particularly using web technologies, for example:
HTML AJAX
Implementing an application as a web app is the simplest option – it’s relatively easy to make this work across platforms via the browser. Using JavaScript, modern frameworks and asynchronous calls (AJAX/fetch/Web APIs) increases interactivity and may require more testing across browsers and devices, but remains a widely used and effective cross‑platform approach.
Modern Web UI Frameworks
Modern web UI frameworks (such as React, Angular, Vue and others) allow developers to build rich, single‑page applications that run in the browser on any supported platform. When combined with responsive design and Progressive Web App (PWA) techniques, these applications can deliver near‑native experiences across desktop and mobile without requiring separate native codebases.
Cross-Platform Development of Installed Programs
In many situations, a web-based solution isn’t acceptable. The following are the main options for cross-platform development of installed programs:
.NET on Multiple Platforms
Modern .NET (for example .NET 6 and later) is designed to run on Windows, Linux and macOS, providing a first‑class cross‑platform runtime supported by Microsoft. This makes it possible to share a significant portion of application logic across platforms, while still allowing platform‑specific user interfaces or integrations where needed.
PortableC++ / – Separate GUI
In this route, the core application is developed using portable C++, and the user interface is developed with native tools on each platform. This allows common code to be shared while delivering a fully native‑style UI on Windows, macOS and Linux, at the cost of maintaining separate UI layers. There are a number of strong cross‑platform C++ libraries that make core code development easier, notably Boost and other modern C++ libraries.
PortableC++ / – Common GUI
In this route, we use portable C++ and a cross‑platform graphics library. Common choices include Qt or GTK, which provide a single UI layer that can run on multiple operating systems. This approach can save time and simplify maintenance, though there may be subtle differences from fully native interfaces, particularly on macOS, and projects need to balance development efficiency against strict native look‑and‑feel requirements.
Conclusions
This page has attempted to provide a brief introduction to the complex topic of cross-platform development.
An important topic that we have not covered in detail here is the support offered to cross‑platform applications by cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), particularly for web‑based and API‑driven solutions. Our cloud expertise page discusses AWS and related technologies in more depth for projects where the back‑end is also cloud‑hosted. You can read here.
If you have a project which requires cross-platform development, or would just like some advice, please give us a call.
We're easy to talk to - tell us what you need.
CONTACT USDon't worry if you don't know about the technical stuff, we will happily discuss your ideas and advise you.