问题
In a software portability context, what is the difference between these three concepts?
For example, I want to use the ncurses library, the original ncurses library is written in C, but my application is being written in C++, and then I found "ncurses wrapper", "bindings to ncurses", and "ncurses port". Which one should I use?
What are the pros and cons of each one?
回答1:
A wrapper is a bit of code that sits on top of other code to recycle it's functionality but with a different interface. This usually implies an interface written in the same language. It should also be noted that sometimes people will say wrapper when what they technically mean is a binding (myself included).
Pros:
- It's in the same language as the original
- Wrappers enhance or reuse functionality without needing a full rewrite.
- Relatively quick to accomplish
- Trivial updates when the source library changes. You'll probably only need to bind new functions unless they broke backwards compatibility by changing expected input/outputs of functions/classes.
Cons:
- Wrapping an entire library can be extremely repetitive
A binding is another bit of code that sits on top of other code to recycle it's functionality except this time bindings are written in a language different than the thing they bind. A notable example is PyQt which is the python binding for QT.
Pros:
- Bring functionality from another language into the language of your choice.
- Relatively fast in comparison to a port
- Same level of trivial changes are needed as in wrapping- You'll probably only need to wrap new functions/classes unless they broke backwards compatibility by changing expected input/outputs of functions/classes.
Cons:
- Just as repetitive as a wrapper
- You're probably taking a fairly large performance hit, especially any wrapper involving an interpreted language on either end
A Port is when you translate some code to work in a different environment. Common analogies include games that come out for say... XBox and are later released for PS3.
Pros:
- Gives you the opportunity to make improvements to the code base as you see inadequacies
- You'll be intimately familiar with HOW the code runs, not just what it does.
Cons:
- By far the lengthiest solution in terms of time/requires a complete rewrite
- You need to make sure that whatever functionality the source library needs in a language is available in your target port language or you'll end up wrapping needed functionality (and potentially defeating the purpose.)
- Every time the source library updates, you have to update too by translating whatever changes they made or risk falling behind.
回答2:
Which one should I use?
You should use bindings to ncurses. A binding is a particular verion of an application, library, etc. that differs from the original only beacuse you can use it with another language. Frequent examples include windows managers (gtk+ = C, gtkmm = C++; Qt = C++, PyQt = Python; ecc.). However, people often use other words like wrapper or port to refer to bindings, so it's easy to get yourself confused.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8628326/what-is-the-difference-between-a-wrapper-a-binding-and-a-port