Write once, run anywhere

Write once, run anywhere (WORA), or sometimes Write once, run everywhere (WORE), was a 1995^[1] slogan created by Sun Microsystems to illustrate the cross-platform benefits of the Java programming language.^[2][3] Ideally, this meant that a Java program could be developed on any device, compiled into standard bytecode, and be expected to run on any device equipped with a Java virtual machine (JVM). The installation of a JVM or Java interpreter on chips, devices, or software packages became an industry standard practice.

The catch is that since there are multiple JVM implementations, on top of a wide variety of different operating systems, there could be subtle differences in how a program executes on each JVM/OS combination, possibly requiring an application to be tested on each target platform. This gave rise to a joke among Java developers: Write once, debug everywhere.^[4]

In comparison, the Squeak Smalltalk programming language and environment boasts of being truly write once, run anywhere,^[5] because it runs bit-identical images across its wide portability base.^[6]

See also

• Cross-platform software § Challenges
• Software portability
• Write once, compile anywhere
  • Free Pascal
• Parrot virtual machine
• Criticism of Java
• Write once, run forever
• Universal Windows Platform