Removing System Dependencies

Because portions of the client - server application program may execute on different machines, it is very important for the developer to remove the underlying dependencies of the operating system from the application code. This is necessary because often the client and the server machine on which the application runs will be different.

For instance, an int is 16 bits on DOS and 32 bits wide on UNIX. If int is passed across the wire in structure between DOS and UNIX, the system will not function properly. (Some client - server interation, such as RPC, provides underlying conversion for the above case. Irregardless, the developer should mask the platform intrinsic with # defines in C and C++). Other mechanisms such as software layering and OS data and function conversion should be implemented to ease the migration of the application between client and server components.