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Android Ported To C#
New submitter Eirenarch writes "Xamarin has just announced that they got the Java part of Android ported to C# via machine translation. The resulting OS, called XobotOS, is available on Github. They claim some serious performance gains over Dalvik. For them, this is an experiment that they are not planning to focus on, but they will be using some of the technologies in Mono for Android."
....this still won't save you from the Oracle software apocalypse.
1. The Microsoft patent grant for C# is more permissive than the patent grant for Java.
2. Oracle is suing Google over Java right now..
Android was ported to x86 a few versions ago.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yes, you can. There are two ways to go about it:
Download the Android SDK which contains an Android emulator.
If you have any virtualization software installed, grab an Android x86 ISO image and run it in a VM.
The second method gets you higher performance (virtualization vs binary translation), but has major compatibility issues. Any app that contains ARM native code won't work in Android x86 unfortunately.
The order of the battle has already been decided. Oracle is the mini boss and Microsoft is the last boss.
Microsoft is a bigger, more evil giant than even Oracle.
I'm not entirely sure you've ever dealt with Oracle...
I can already tell you how that will turn out: Microsoft won't be suing anyone.
C# and the core runtime are ECMA standards with strong patent promises, meaning Microsoft explicitly gives everyone in the world the right to implement their own C# compiler and version of the System.* libraries.
Their open-ness with regard to the CLR and C# is far and away better than Sun did with Java. They even contributed DLR code to mono itself.
Not to mention how much better the language is... With real co/contra variant generics (type erasure? GTFU), first-class functions with delegates, closures, lambda expressions, and LINQ. Plus the new async/await stuff. On and type inference just makes things easier on a day to day coding basis.
Meanwhile Java has spent the last 10 years standing still. They couldn't even get closures into the latest release and from my understanding of the docs they aren't going to do true first-class closures anyway. It's a freakin joke of a language at this point.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
Bigger? Perhaps. More evil? Not a chance in hell.
I agree this is off-topic, but I really like WPF. It has a steep learning curve and a lot of quirks, but data binding, templates, and the layout system save a lot of time and make things look nice. The people complaining about WPF in your link often called themselves old; maybe that's the real problem (I'm quite young).
Hash? I though it was a bunch of pluses squished together to save space. You're saying C# isn't C++++?
Wow, my mind's blown. Cue Lemmings' self-destruct animation: Grabs head and explodes!
1. The Microsoft patent grant for C# is more permissive than the patent grant for Java.
Aaa.... No it's not. There is a defensive termination clause(I will be corrected if I'm wrong...) in Microsoft's grant, but not in Oracle's.
Microsoft is a bigger, more evil giant than even Oracle.
I'm not entirely sure you've ever dealt with Oracle...
Oracle vs Google is like "do no good" vs "do no evil".
Having dealt with both I can say Oracle is much more evil than Microsoft.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
1. The Microsoft patent grant for C# is more permissive than the patent grant for Java.
Are you a lawyer? I've been reading the promise Microsoft made, and it's all gibberish to me. And I doubt that even the original lawyer who drafted it would actually understand what he had written.
What are closures main advantage over anonymous class referring to final identifiers ?
Verbosity ?
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
Java has something C# lacks: a good IDE. ... ? Monodevelop? Yeah right. Visual Studio. LOL!
Java has eclipse.
C# has
So the fact that Oracle has sued someone over their language while Microsoft hasn't doesn't matter, it's still Microsoft that is more evil.
I mean, what exactly does matter, then?
Wow, where did you get that opinion from? Using a beta version of VS2005? VS2001?. The team I'm in right now is coding Java for Android in NetBeans because Eclipse sucked hard. But coding in C# in Visual Studio 2008/2010 is way better, way more productive. Hell even coding Javascript / HTML in VS2010 is better than this.
Australian running a company that does C# / C++ / Java / SQL / Python / Mathematica
Sorry but Visual Studio >>> Eclipse. It may be proprietary and not support the 100 languages Eclipse does, but for the languages does support, it is hands down 100 times better than Eclipse. Hate Microsoft all you want, but their developer tools have always been first class - which is why their OS had such widespread adoption (its about getting applications on your platform, not the quality of your platform itself).
P.S. get Resharper and NUnit.
AccountKiller
IANAL but unless they did a clean room conversion to C#, then Oracle's patent, if valid, would still apply. In otherwords, if Android is found to infringe on Oracle's IP and they programmers examined the infringing code and converted it to C#, the the C# implimentation still infringes.
their developer tools have always been first class
This is what I have noticed about Visual Studio users, and I will preface the list with this; it may be that someone just doesn't know how to use the tool, but with C#, VB.NET, C++.NET, etc... Microsoft has very clearly made the .NET platform to be developed using their tools, so knowing how to use the tool (Visual Studio) is a key requirement to knowing how to program anything for .NET (which has a lot of cons in my opinion but that's getting off topic.) [PS: In case you need an example of how absolutely dependent .NET and Visual Studio are to each other look no further than the Entity Framework]
.NET APIs is usually rampant with Visual Studio people.
.NET, Java, RPG, C++, etc... However, the people who use Visual Studio tend to have (for lack of a better term) an addiction to the "Visual" part of VS. Now there are a couple of people I've met that have written some quality code using VS, but I'd hate myself trying to convince myself that I wasn't seeing a pattern here.
1. Visual studio users tend to be autocomplete hunters. I agree autocomplete is a handy tool, but lack of knowledge of the
2. Auto-generated boiler plates *usually* makes it to production and *usually* remains until version three or four. Again, it's handy that a lot of work is done for you, in this fast pace world we live in, it can be a life saver. However, sometimes it's time to retire the boiler plate code for something that is a better fit for your solution. Visual Studio coders tend to not even realize that this is going on behind the GUI.
3. Kill diff and commit new. I can't put my finger on it, but Visual Studio coders then to forego working on already committed branches and just start fresh every time or at least every other time. For the life of me, I simply don't understand why they don't tend to follow the "dozen little gears" approach... (which leads me into)
4. If Visual Studio didn't break up the functionality, VS coders tend to cobble everything into a handful of classes. Coders tend to have a single class that handles every, single, stinking, GUI event and possible combination thereof. Really?! Why?!
5. Visual Studio coders don't seem to build components, if they do, the component isn't very focused on task. Usually the library is something along the lines of "AllTheUsefulFunctionsThatWeKeepTypingOverAndOverForOurCompany.dll" As opposed to say, "FunctionsForASingleCustomer.dll" This makes rebuilding libraries, for me, a pain in the ass because every department has to approve the changes. I have no idea why Visual Studio coders feel that everything plus a chicken is a great idea for everything and the chicken?!
6. Exceptions! Catch them please! No one is immune to this, granted. However the forgot to catch an exception for Visual Studio coders is quite higher than say the guys that write C++ or Java and use Eclipse.
I've worked at several places coding on everything from
I like Visual Studio but the most frustrating thing is it always seems to get in my way, it always wants to think for me (usually doing a pretty bad job at it), and it really does so many things behind the scene that it tends to breed a "ignorance is bliss" attitude that carries over into actual user written code.
Now before you pick up the rock and bash my head in!! I totally understand that VS is just the tool. I get that and trust me, some of the coders that I'm talking about are some of my best drinking buddies, so I really don't want to think badly of them. But I just keep seeing this wherever I go when it comes to Visual Studio coders, not just my buddies, but others too. I can't help but feel that, "if the soldiers keep dying, it may not be the soldiers' fault." Like wise, if the code keeps coming from VS, in an ugly state, it may not be the coders' fault.
Okay I'm ready to hear reasons as to why I'm just crazy and dreaming all this up.
That's Dalvik, NOT the JVM.
That's Dalvik, NOT the JVM.
Whoops, you are correct. Sorry about that.
I wish I could go back and edit the post. Oh well.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
The (irrevocable, legally binding) promise Microsoft made was not just related to C#, but the .NET framework. So long as it's implemented properly (eg. all elements Microsoft deems "required" for the implementation is implemented), Microsoft will not peruse any legal action on anyone using the technology. That includes the API. The reason Microsoft did this was so people would not be afraid to use it. They want people to use it.
The two situations are not comparable at all. Microsoft would not sue over someone implementing the API.
Aaa.... No it's not. There is a defensive termination clause(I will be corrected if I'm wrong...) in Microsoft's grant, but not in Oracle's.
There is a termination clause:
I.e. you can sue Microsoft for infringement of your own patents by SQL Server or Windows, but if you sue claiming that one of the specifications/implementations covered under the open specification promise infringes your patents, Microsoft reserved their right to countersue you for infringement of the same specifications.
This is a standard defensive mechanism. Sun/Oracle has one as well:
If you were to rely on these specifications for a product you are building, it actually benefits you that there is a defensive mechanism in there to deter against crippling lawsuits.
So, not much difference. Standard defensive mechanism in the common interest of the users of the products.
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