The BAR engine has a fairly consistent philosophy, but individual builds might have slight variations in how their interfacial functions are implemented.  The principal source of differences across builds of the same version number is a programming language's ability to process certain data types.  For example, the type BAR_String might have a built-in "string" equivalent in C# language, but it might evaluate to a comparatively cruder "const char *" type in C++ language.

Furthermore, individual machines might not directly support some of the fundamental types used by the BAR engine, like the 64-bit "longlong" integer type.  This will impact which data reading and data writing functions are available to the user.

While compatibility considerations are something the user should be aware of, there is little reason to be concerned when using BARfly.  Individual builds of the BAR engine are designed to "plug into" the best features of a programming language and hardware capabilities of a computer, so there is little chance the user will feel inconvenienced while performing node editing tasks.

However, the user must take care to keep in mind compatibility considerations when using the BAR engine in his or her own applications.  Functions that are compatible in one build but not in another will make it harder to ensure platform independence in an application's source code.

Fortunately, each function's description in this documentation has a "compatibility table" for quick reference.  The table has two rows:  a BAR version listing, and a BARfly version listing.  The BAR version tells the user the builds in which the function is actively supported, meaning you can call this function if you have the BAR engine to work with in your application.  The BARfly version tells the user whether or not the function is supported in the dialog box that pops up when the user clicks Run.Run BAR Interfacial Function.

Example of a compatibility table:

	All Platforms	Win32 C++ LIB	Win32 C# DLL
BAR version	1.4.1	1.3.2	1.4.1
	All Platforms	Win32
BARfly version	1.1.4	1.1.4

This table says that the function is compatible with all builds of BAR starting with version 1.4.1.  In the case of the Win32 C++ static library build, though, the function was supported earlier, in version 1.3.2.  It also says that the function made an appearance in BARfly (not necessarily in BAR) starting in version 1.1.4 of BARfly.

By using Help.About BARfly, you can check the current BAR and BARfly versions.

  See also:  [Summary] [Interfacial Types]