how much effort is a port?
just how much effort was it to get the first plug-in
to intel?
- getting to know xcode:
10 days
- getting to know FPC 10
days
- porting f/x core to XCode: 60
days
- adapting link layer (Pascal/C++) for
dynamic libraries 20 days
- upgrading core
to bundle: 10 days
- upgrading dialogs,
carbon based views 15 days
-
cross-compiling to i386, handling subtle differences 2 days (yes, we were
surprised as well)
- upgrading interface
details 3 days
- new packager,
installer, base manual 2
days
grand total: 132 days spend to
bring 'Gradual b/w' to Intel.
now,
these numbers are very high. obviously, we can't recoup this effort from a
single plug-in (especially since that one is free). we will spread this effort
over all our plug-ins. adding this base, we estimate that each additional port
will cost about two to three days of effort to port, test, and document. some
more effort will be invested into our web site. but in the end, each plug-in
will have cost about 3 days to port. that is a lot for just keeping the status
quo, and our main reason to raise the price per plug-in. still, we are proud
that we were able to pull it off, and are looking forward to releasing the new
plug-ins. on monday. this sunday will be a *full* day off.
Posted: Sat
- March 17, 2007 at 09:13 PM