See Pascal&#x2F;P. Wirth wisely started with a stack machine (P-code) that could map efficiently to about any architecture and be re-implemented by non-compiler experts. He then targeted a Pascal compiler to that. I believe he targeted a standard library to it. The result was Pascal&#x2F;P applications ran on 70+ architectures without modification outside of system-specific code like I&#x2F;O.<p>So, it&#x27;s definitely achievable. Was done by Wirth at least twice (Pascal&#x2F;P &amp; Lilith) plus System&#x2F;38 (later AS&#x2F;400) at microcode level. Just takes modularity and a good intermediate language. Your adage is still true in that most screw up portability by using ineffective practices or not using effective ones. I rarely believe it when I see the word in a feature list.