The universal platform for universal applications, you should understand the behind-the-scenes story of UWP

Computer store news: Many users first learned about "Universal Windows Application (UWA) or "Universal Windows" "The platform" (Universal Windows Platform, UWP) these concepts, will feel a shock, cheering for Microsoft's black technology, over the years "a development, everywhere running" dream finally realized in Microsoft's hands . However, as more and more UWP apps are released and updated, some users are beginning to find something wrong: Why are so-called universal apps only available on PCs or vice versa? What are the expectations of running everywhere? Don't worry, for those users who have doubts and doubts for a long time, let's sit down and talk about the universal platform of universal applications.
What does it mean to be a general purpose application? Since we are moving toward applications that are updated and released under Windows 10, there seems to be some misunderstanding for ordinary users to understand UWP. The reason for this is that when we go deeper into the application development level, non-developers begin to show that they don't understand. Of course, this doesn't matter. It's like an astrophysicist who explains to us civilians that “black holes”, such as our great and inspirational Hawking, who tried to do this in his bestseller. Based on the mathematics foundation, Hawking gave me an in-depth explanation of the black hole's ruler, the shortness of the inch, and the hard-to-understand details, give them to the doctors! In other words, don't expect to be entangled in how information can escape the black hole and not be spared. Back to the general application problem, one of the most common misunderstandings is why some of the so-called "general applications" can only be seen first or not on the mobile side, such as Zou's "Mobile Taobao", or vice versa. Can be seen on the PC side, such as the industry conscience "Netease cloud music". It doesn't matter, let me know now. What is UWP? UWP is a combination of the Windows 10 operating system and the Windows 10 SDK (Software Development Kit). We know that in any system built by modern information technology, there are layered concepts. For example, the Android operating system that everyone is most familiar with is the AOSP (Android Open-Source Project) and the upper layer. & rdquo; Google service framework & ldquo; composition. Similarly, in the Windows architecture, at a system level, there are kernels, code libraries, and APIs (application programming interfaces) that are shared between PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox One, IoT, and HoloLens. These sharing technologies are also in the "development, running everywhere" slogan, and in a broad sense, this is really no problem. However, there are some things we still need to be aware of: developers can choose which one to add their own applications. Because UWP tags don't mean developers have to publish their apps on the phone or Xbox, if they are not happy, developers are encouraged to tweak their code to ensure better apps for each platform. Experience The point here is that when your phone and computer are running the same operating system, they are built on very different screen sizes and hardware! Take the PC to show up. Most PCs in the world today are not equipped with touch screens. If you force a mobile app that is highly dependent on the touch screen to be ported to your PC, you can only wish you good luck with your mouse and keyboard! The irrelevant pop-up list and title bar on the phone are crucial on the PC. Conversely, for mobile applications, the status bar is a must, vibration, gravity sensing is indispensable. Xbox, in the absence of a mouse, keyboard and touch screen, requires us to rethink the way users interact. The Xbox app is known for its simple click-to-click operation, rather than the heavy and cumbersome application command bar (AppBar). Looking at the hardware differences, the phone is equipped with a back button and this is what the PC lacks. Developers need to define and improve different representations of interactions. Windows Phone limits the use of memory size, so on Windows 10 Mobile, only a few applications can run in the background. Sometimes, given the memory shortage, these applications will also be terminated. This is also the point that developers must consider. The user interface and zoom mode on the PC and mobile side should also be taken into account. On the mobile side of the UWP application interface slimming and PC-UWP application interface expansion, developers can also use this time to adjust the layout of controls and content for each situation, so that the overall look is more pleasing. The above assertions are made assuming the developer's mind is the user experience, but who knows what the actual situation is like? In the end, some developers may not want their apps to appear on PCs or mobile phones, or on other platforms. Especially those applications that are considered to have significant mobile attributes, such as Didi Travel, know about daily newspapers, Instagram, camera applications such as VSCO, and even some financial applications. Some people are used to thinking about problems in old ways of thinking, or they think people don't use these apps on the desktop or think of a browser. In many cases, the benefits of Windows applications in these environments are not clear. Or, you might develop a high-level game masterpiece on the desktop, but due to its poor zooming features or hardware limitations, the game won't run on your phone. For the above reasons, Microsoft does not require developers to develop full-platform applications for it. What Microsoft can do is to help developers make it easier to do a development, a little modification, and run everywhere. Of course, developers themselves need to be cautious. For developers, Microsoft's UWP is an important step in the new era, because the core code can be walked between the PC on your lap, the phone in your hand, and the Xbox in your bedroom. However, where and when to publish an application still depends on the developer's wishes. At first, developers can devote themselves to the desktop version of Windows 10 development and maintenance updates. When they think it's time, they will naturally provide a mobile app with great experience. When Microsoft is such a huge company, when developing many applications between different platforms (such as news, weather, Xbox, etc.), it is more likely that a team develops core code and then chooses different hardware for different times. Platform applications add new features. A notable example is the game streaming feature on the desktop rather than the mobile side, as this requires a completely different way of processing and programming. For example, for messaging services, SMS and MMS (short message service, multimedia messaging services, ie SMS and MMS) are very important on mobile phones, but it does not matter on PCs. These are very trivial programming details. This is why we see different versions of the same app in the app store. Although it is literally understood, if programming is "one click," everything will be very good, but for now it is impossible. However, when we stepped into the mobile world with the “surface” attribute of the device, the hardware differences between the phone and the PC will be slowly bridged. When that day really comes, Windows 10 will be able to do the balancing work. . You need to remember that general-purpose applications don't mean that apps can appear anywhere, or they should appear anywhere. It depends on the developer and developer's own development schedule. Don't hesitate to give your feedback, tell the developers what you want, let us witness the growth of Windows 10 Universal Apps over the next few weeks, months, and years. This is an exciting time, but it is still too early to face. In this courageous new world, developers are adjusting themselves to familiarize themselves with this.