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Notice the way he doesn't say "I've developed a cross platform application using [some language/framework] and it had [list of positives] and [list of negatives]".

I'll start

Xamarin/C#.

Positives : For dialog box applications this works pretty well. C# isn't a bad language.
Negatives : Last time I looked at it vector graphics was supported only via an extremely crack addled hack to use a bunch of BoxViews invented by Charles Petzold, though this has apparently changed. It's hard to make dialog applications look completely native. Xamarin was a bit expensive when I looked at it.
Summary: It's a good environment for Line of Business type apps which are just a bunch of forms.

Portable C/C++ with per platform veneers

Positives : You can use OpenGL for vector graphics. OpenGL is really fast and IMO elegant and I'd honestly rather use it than Skiasharp. On iOS XCode works really well for debugging. You can pull in C/C++ libraries. OpenGL works on a lot of platforms and not just Android and iOS. C/C++ which is basically "C with classes" is a really fast and intuitive language.
Negatives : C/C++ is a bit too low level. Building UIs in OpenGL is time consuming. The apps don't look native. Debugging on Android is a bit of a mess. C/C++ seems like a bit of second class citizen on Android compared to Java, though it seems like this is less true with newer Android releases.
Summary: It's a good environment for games and graphically intensive stuff, particularly if you already know some OpenGL and C and have written some video game code. Performance is amazing because C translates very efficiently to native code for the CPU and OpenGL translates very effectively into GPU operations.

Yes. C# for Android and iOS. Haven't tried it myself, since I'm having more fun playing with JS for Android via Cordova (developing in VS2017).

The only? C# runs on the desktop and the backend. And also on iOS and Android using Xamarin, which is owned by Microsoft. The same went for Kotlin, until recently when iOS fell off the radar. That's because RoboVM was bought by Xamarin.

Delphi alone is more expensive than a Mac

So what? It's not overpriced. Use Xamarin if you want. I don't care.

Note that this is not a port of Microsoft's Visual Studio to the Mac. All they did was buy Xamarin Studio a few months back and slap their nameplate on it. They are completely different products with different codebases, and look to remain that way.

From a technical standpoint, there's not really much reason to be exited about this, unless you were already a Xamarin fan, and want to see it better-supported.

Well, because you can't write native ios apps in anything except Apple's approved garbage language.

False. You could use Object Pascal or C++ or C# or JavaScript or any language which provides you with a toolchain to target iOS.

Object Pascal and C++ and C# and JavaScript to name a few. You can program for iOS using any language which provides you with a toolchain to target iOS.

There are NOT a lot of choices of languages when it comes to that.

Not true. In addition to Objective C and Swift you can program for iOS in, for example, Object Pascal or C++ or C# or JavaScript.

Not true indeed. You and I have a huge difference in what "a lot" means. A lot of difference.

There are NOT a lot of choices of languages when it comes to that.

Not true. In addition to Objective C and Swift you can program for iOS in, for example, Object Pascal or C++ or C# or JavaScript.

http://developer.xamarin.com/g...

If they were really smart, they would buy out Xamarin, or use similar technology so that apps written for Windows Phone, and Windows App store would also work on Android and iOS. That way you could write the code once, and have it run on everything including Windows Desktops, Windows Tablets, Windows Phones, Android Phones and Tablets, and iOS. You could even share a lot of the code and make an native Windows Desktop interface if you wanted to sell the application through your own channels for the Windows Desktop. Currently it's kind of a mess having to use different code for Windows, Android, and iOS.

One of the largest cross platform gaming engines today is based on Mono the open source implementation of .NET

http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual...

From mono also comes...

http://xamarin.com/

A very good cross platform development tool for developing mobile apps.

The CLI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Language_Infrastructure) was always open. Microsoft has worked with Mono developers from the get go and has even funded them...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...

The notion that this is a recent renaissance is a complete fallacy. Microsoft understands that like any other company that when people leverage your technologies there are many opportunities to make money.

Open Source is not inconsistent with their strategies, which are all about making money and dominating the market, like every other company on the planet.

Actually they are doubling the allowed app size in the starter edition:

We are also doubling the size limit on apps that can be created with Xamarin Starter Edition, so that you can build even more capable apps for free.

Of course, the Starter edition also limits how large the app can be and didn't allow you to use the cross-platform GUI layer. Did they mention anything about that in the new version?

And no, I'm not joking about that: Xamarin Pricing has the details... see the "Unlimited App Size" and "Xamarin.Forms" sections.

I'm currently writing a project using Xamarin ( http://xamarin.com/ ). Did the Objective-C thing at a previous job for about 6 months. C# is way way better than Objective-C, and you get the added bonus of being able to reuse your business logic (and even some of your UI depending on how you write it) across platforms. There is some overhead in learning the apis through C# instead of Obj-C, but its more than made up for by a better language and cross-platform reuse of code. Not as many examples of how to use apis in C#, but, for the most part, its pretty trivial to translate things from Obj-C. The worst bit is that existing third-party libraries are substantially harder to use. You do have to pay for a license for apps over a certain size, but its only $25/mo for an indy developer.

With Xamarin, you can write apps for iOS and Android in C#. Shared projects allow you to use the exact same code on both platforms. Depending on the nature and architecture of the app, you can get >60% code reuse between platforms. Xamarin is not free, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

You're right of course - and come to think of it, I already knew about Xamarin's offering :P

The point is that everything made with that production platform cannot be run on any other OS.

Five or even three years ago, you'd be correct.

But not anymore.

(disclaimer: I have interned at Microsoft for the past three summers; I do not speak for them)

I think your criticism against lock-in is fair, and this is clearly one of Microsoft's strategies, and I suspect that it will continue to be to some degree. But on the language front, you are wrong. Not only are Microsoft's newest languages open-source (F#, TypeScript), but they are also cross-platform and collaboratively developed with open source groups. And, of course, you can run all .NET languages on the Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, etc. with mono.

While it is theoretically possible that all of this is a deadly Microsoft-bait-and-switch just waiting to happen, having worked at Microsoft, I can say that doing so would fly in the face of a lot of hard work by many, many people there. I was as critical about Microsoft as you were (dig into my /. history and you'll see) until I worked there. Not only is it a great place to work, but the company really is committed to changing its culture. Use of open-source tools at Microsoft used to be strictly-prohibited. Now they have a fast-track process for working with them. Open-sourcing of Microsoft software was also a complete non-starter. Now putting Microsoft code up on the web is increasingly routine, and they even have their own open-source hosting ala GitHub that has git bindings.

Microsoft is a big company (the Redmond campus is mind-bogglingly huge to me) and they have a lot of corporate momentum. Despite this, in my opinion, I've seen my daily interactions with people do a complete 180 in the last couple of years. Microsoft knows that the era of selling boxed copies of proprietary software is coming to an end. So you're simply wrong about Microsoft not being able to change.

http://xamarin.com/test-cloud They have a "data center" of phones that they have somehow virtualized. Cool stuff really.

You have options. Cross platform options (for Win, OSX, iOS & Android) that you can use...

- Mono C#

- Delphi Firemonkey (My personal preference.)

- wxWidgets

- other web related technologies that I've heard of but don't use.

Sorry, messed up links - I hate posting to Slashdot from a touch device.

http://xamarin.com/pr/xamarin-...

http://blog.xamarin.com/xamari...

Sorry, messed up links - I hate posting to Slashdot from a touch device.

http://xamarin.com/pr/xamarin-...

http://blog.xamarin.com/xamari...

Why C# is the best language for mobile development...
http://blog.xamarin.com/eight-...
http://www.remobjects.com/elem...

* You can develop native apps in it for Android and iOS

* It is a more advanced language than the alternative languages, e.g. with its "async" language support. (which has been recently copied into Python, and is under committee review for inclusion JS and C++, but has been in VB/C# for four years already).

(disclaimer: I work on the C#/VB language design team at Microsoft. And I'm darned proud of it.)

The allegation is that, if the open-source community were to adopt it, build it into Linux, etc., then Microsoft would sue for patent infringement, exactly like they did with Android and the FAT patents (and some others I believe).

Microsoft is now effectively directly sponsoring Mono by offering "special pricing" to MSDN subscribers. I think we can consider this allegation dead in the water at this point. The reasons are also fairly obvious: when it comes to tablets and phones, MS needs Xamarin more than Xamarin needs MS at this point. Xamarin in wide use means a large body of code running on iOS and Android today that can be readily ported to Win8 & WP8.

And it is under constant thread from Microsoft for lawsuits.

Really?

http://xamarin.com/pr/xamarin-microsoft-partner

http://xamarin.com/ Here's a good place to start: http://hanselminutes.com/362/ios-and-android-apps-with-xamarin-studio-20-and-miguel-de-icaza There are examples of games with of 95% code re-use across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.

On the other hand, for cross-platform development between your two Android phones and your iPhone, maybe Microsoft's C# language is the right choice...
http://blog.xamarin.com/eight-reasons-c-sharp-is-the-best-language-for-mobile-development/

(disclaimer: I work on the VB/C# team at Microsoft)

http://www.xamarin.com/

Xamarin might be nice, I don't know, but if you want Visual Studio support, it's $999. That's a little steep for personal / hobby projects.

https://store.xamarin.com/

Even C# [1].

[1] http://xamarin.com/monotouch

He already did that

While the Mac is a niche, there's a number of C# developers that would like to develop for iOS in XCode or Visual Studio, so he has a nice target market.

And the guys over at Xamarin proved that, it ran much MUCH faster.. http://blog.xamarin.com/2012/05/01/android-in-c-sharp/

There's also another interesting research project: Porting Android to C# running under mono.

In a benchmark they made (granted, it was focused on generics, where C# has serious performance advantage against Java), the port was about seven times faster.

And just like iOS, it's impossible to do an Android app without using Java

Really. Seriously? You really mean that? I thought you could write native apps for Android too if you wanted.

A lot of self taught programmers wouldn't necessarily know the correct pronunciation.

Because they went on the web and looked at c-hash tutorials on c-hash forums?

You know... c-hash forums like

csharp-station.com
csharpfriends.com
c-sharpcorner.com

and surely they never went to:

social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/category/visualcsharp

And the article this very slashdot story was attached to:
Android Ported to C#
http://blog.xamarin.com/2012/05/01/android-in-c-sharp/

Really, you would pretty much have to have your head up your own ass not to notice it.

Your other examples are minor variations in how to pronounce the same word ... how hard should the g be in gnu, how soft should the i be in linux... these are distinctions of accent. Linus is americanized to Lie-nus... so Lie-nux is an americanization of the finnish Linus (Lee-nus) and his Lee-nux.

That applies to Ubuntu as well... I frequently hear it called you-bun-too, which is a pretty reasonable americanization of the native oo-boon-too. I'm fine with either in that case too.

And as for SQL both variations are correct. IBM originally developed Structured English Query Language (SEQUEL)... eventually it was shortened to just (Structured Query Language) SQL but the sequel pronunciation stuck. But there is also nothing wrong with enunciating the SQL acronym as ess-que-ell.

Calling C# C-hash after you've been corrected is like someone looking at the X.org logo, and then insisting on calling it "greater than less than" even after being told its just X.

There already is Mono for Android. If Sony didn't want people to pay for Mono for Android (understandable as it starts at $399 USD), they could fairly easily just make it themselves. Nothing's stopping anyone from running Mono stuff on Android.

(posting AC since I moderated a couple earlier posts)

Indeed, using MonoTouch and MonoDroid sound attractive. Even if it isn't perfect or you don't get full API coverage, at least (most of) your core app functionality could have a single codebase for most platforms (from mobile to desktop and web), and then just code the UI/platform specifics.

MS would be wise in helping the Mono project grow, increase the level of API support on more platforms (ie, at least to the level of the Compact Framework), so they can outgrow Windows, and embrace and extend most mobile platforms nearly overnight. They would still benefit from controlling the main framework on Windows, but would provide a viable interoperability path with other platforms (for better user experience).

(posting AC since I moderated a couple earlier posts)

Indeed, using MonoTouch and MonoDroid sound attractive. Even if it isn't perfect or you don't get full API coverage, at least (most of) your core app functionality could have a single codebase for most platforms (from mobile to desktop and web), and then just code the UI/platform specifics.

MS would be wise in helping the Mono project grow, increase the level of API support on more platforms (ie, at least to the level of the Compact Framework), so they can outgrow Windows, and embrace and extend most mobile platforms nearly overnight. They would still benefit from controlling the main framework on Windows, but would provide a viable interoperability path with other platforms (for better user experience).

Invest time and effort in a pipe-dream that, should it actually succeed, will in-fact incur legal actions from Microsoft.

Pipe-dream? It already exists: Mono for Android, Mono for iPad and iPhone

Invest time and effort in a pipe-dream that, should it actually succeed, will in-fact incur legal actions from Microsoft.

Pipe-dream? It already exists: Mono for Android, Mono for iPad and iPhone

Not strictly true. First of all, you can use Mono instead.

Does Mono come with a C++/CLI compiler now?
Not that C++/CLI were C++, anyway (although Microsoft will tell you differently). It's a language based on C++, just like C++ is based on C.

Secondly, if managed code is exposed as a COM object, you can interact with them from native code compiled with some other compiler (such as Borland or Intel or g++).

Of course. But that's not using .NET from C++, that's interfacing with .NET code from C++. That's a very different thing. Also, does COM work on any non-Windows platform?

Finally, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could try dynamically loading mscoree.dll and invoking CLRCreateInstance, similar to creating a Java runtime for JNI or an embedded perl instance.

Yeah, and I could also "simply" implement C++/CLI based on g++, or something like that ... at some point, the options become more of theoretical nature, unless you have tons of free time to spend.

and sometimes they dont: http://xamarin.com/ .

Not strictly true. First of all, you can use Mono instead. Secondly, if managed code is exposed as a COM object, you can interact with them from native code compiled with some other compiler (such as Borland or Intel or g++). Finally, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could try dynamically loading mscoree.dll and invoking CLRCreateInstance, similar to creating a Java runtime for JNI or an embedded perl instance.

"Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language" link

is this the end of .NET?