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Mono 2.0 and .NET On Linux
Several readers noted the release of Mono 2.0, which is compatible with Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0. According to Miguel de Icaza, "... users can move over server applications built for .NET and client applications built with Windows Forms." InternetNews points out that only about half of the .NET apps out there will work on Mono 2.0, for a variety of reasons including (but not limited to) legacy Windows-only libraries and Microsoft's progress on .NET 3.0 and 3.5 APIs.
Most of it anyway; but crucially, LINQ.
The bits missing (Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation) aren't as crucial in my personal opinion; they are just nice toys you aren't going to miss if you've never had them before.
LINQ however is a killer feature IMO; I'm glad to see that's now available on mono.
throw new NoSignatureException();
Except that C# is a decent little language? It's good to see it open-source, that way it can have a life after Microsoft tires of it.
I don't want to run my stuff on Microsoft technologies but I have potential (and actual) customers who already do use them.
In order to integrate their application and ours we needed to code a little plugin to run on their ASP.NET (or whatever the correct name is) servers.
Mono allowed me to develop the required plugin on a Ubuntu box. (They then wanted the resulting assembly signed, we gave them the source code so they could do it themselves).
Microsoft was relevant to us because we had a potential customer who used it and isn't about to abandon their entire existing system just for us.
Without Mono there would have been two options: .NET
a) Pony up to MS to develop in
b) Don't do the business.
neither of which are particularly appealing.
Mono allows competition and competition is good.
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I've been using visualstudio since the very beginning, and c# since the very beginning, and 2008 is the first upgrade so far that I have declined. I'm sure its time will come, but not for a while longer.
I really do not understand why Net is not backwards compatible but I suppose at least I should be happy that the libraries can co-exist instead of the old DLL hell. Microsofts attempt to replace Java could have been implemented in a better way.
How much decent Net software is there out there anyway? Is it all in-house so we never see it? I've only seen VB shareware quality stuff no matter what I've had to pay for it.
From a little experience with WINE which is in the same situation, every application uses the same 95% core but the 5% obscure stuff is different from every app. And unlike people that have the ability to say "Well, if OpenOffice is 95% of what MS Office is it's good enough", applications have a nasty way of crashing unless their obscure requirements are met. It can be a useful crutch at times but it's nothing like a good platform to build cross-platform applications on. Or rather, the OSS community's applications will be compatible with Windows but the Windows applications won't be compatible with Linux, which is pretty much where we are today already.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
As a Programmer I am really torn between Java and Mono!
Both platforms solve the same problem but which one shall I commit to?
Do I install and run both platforms on my PC?
Surely running both platforms at the same time *must* be detrimental to my PC's performance (e.g. memory usage and cpu time executing both VMs)!
I also cannot afford the time to learn both platforms properly!
It is unfortunately a question of politics. .net technology and patents are a concern.
Java is now open-sourced and offically sanctioned.
Mono is the "unauthorised"(by Microsoft) port of
Both platforms have great software written for them (e.g. banshee, jedit, monodevelop, eclipse and netbeans) and patents are not really a concern to me because I live in the UK (software patents do not apply...YET!).
It is unfortunate that the mono is so closely associated with Windows, if the mono team had created/implemented a completely new set of cross-platform libraries (that bore no relation to Microsoft's framework) it would be more accepted.
I really like mono - the work that has been done is nothing short of amazing but the constant catch-up with Microsoft is a concern.
Java is widespread in mobile phones and most modern desktops unfortunatly for me it is not available on my PDA (ipaq 2210).
I am really stuck with this! :(
Well, it should be the first upgrade you should NOT have declined; at least for the new language enhancements in C# and VB (Like LINQ and lambda expressions). I did a large project recently, which used a fair amount of LINQ. I felt C# 3.0 is when it finally left Java lagging in expressiveness.
Btw, I have also been using Mono for some time now, and the present compiler implements all of C# 3.0 language enhancements.
Life is just a conviction.
I see a lot of people interested in LINQ, extension methods, a more functional style of coding, and ASP.Net MVC. So maybe your mileage will vary.
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StrawberryFrog
As a .net developer, you have to notice that Managed DirectX doesn't exist anymore, and XNA is too nowhere near as powerful as MDX was. There is SlimDX, which is a binding around DX10, which is quite cool, but has only become available recently.
.NET. It provides cross platform .NET bindings for openGL, SDL/glut/glfw, as well as OpenAL, devil and CG. It's basically a cross platform XNA equivalent.... but a lot better ;)
/. is full of MS bashing, I'd actually suggest you go try mono with the Tao framework, and it might prove to be a suprisingly pleasing environment to work in....
The Tao Framework is more or less the best thing out there right now for
Whilst i appreciate
Or better: Write a C# compiler that compiles to the java virtual machine.