Port (an Application)

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What Does Port (an Application) Mean?

To port, in the context of "porting an application," refers to changing software programming to allow the program to run with a different operating system than the program for which it was designed.

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Also, sometimes simply port or ported is used when referencing hardware that has been changed to operate with a different OS o.

This term is also known, or referred to, as porting the application.

Techopedia Explains Port (an Application)

To port an application means to allow an application program to run on a different OS. Machine dependent sections of the program must be rewritten as these are sections of the program that will execute only on a certain type of computer. Programs designed to run on a variety of types of computers, using different OSs, are said to be machine-independent.

Programs easily ported are said to be portable; or stated differently, when the manpower cost of porting to a new OS is less than that required to rewrite the entire program (i.e. from scratch), the program is described as portable.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.