Visual Studio 2015 Can Target Linux; Android Apps Anywhere Chrome Can Run

jones_supa writes Phoronix has noticed that the Visual Studio 2015 product page mentions that the new IDE can target Linux out of the box. Specifically the page says "Build for iOS, Android, Windows devices, Windows Server or Linux". What this actually means is not completely certain at this point, but it certainly laces nicely with the company opening up the .NET Framework. And speaking of cross-platform software: new submitter mccrew writes Google has released a tool that lets Android apps run on any machine that can run its Chrome browser. Called Arc Welder, the tool acts as a wrapper around Android apps so they can run on Windows, OS X and Linux machines. The software expands the places that Android apps can run and might make it easier for developers to get code working on different machines.

Comments

Java killer

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like C# is closing in for the kill. I've read that a starter version Xamarin/mono is going to be integrated into VS.

Re:Java killer

[msobkow]

*LOL* And this is the year of the Linux desktop, too, right?

There is a lot more holding up C# domination of the world than Java. Like itself.

Re:Java killer

[phantomfive]

I'll give my opinion of why it won't, and it is the mindset between the C# community and the Java community, and how they differ.

In the C# world, it's like the great masters on high give us features and we use them. This is an example of that attitude (and it's actually rather poetic, if not sickening).

In the Java world, a new framework comes along when someone says, "we have a problem to solve, what is the best way to solve it?" They are there, working in the trenches, trying to solve the problem themselves. Like Maven.....some guy had problems with builds and said, "there must be a better way." And he built that way. In Java there are often multiple competing solutions to the problem, and eventually one is voted as the best.

So it's the cathedral vs the bazaar. The cathedral is fine, don't get me wrong, they work hard at it; but it has the feel of product managers, feature checklists, and dispassionate programmers.

The passionate programmers create a better product, and they're in Java world. (Note: I don't even particularly like Java, I just recognize there are differences between the Java and C# ecosystems).

Re:Java killer

[Anonymous Coward]

Voted the best? And then the rest disappear? Because I'd expect that there's 9 competing ways of doing almost the same thing, sometimes within the same project, with breaking changes between versions. Maven is a pretty terrible example, too... Nuget is a thing. Seems like every platform has a similar package manager concept, and it's generally not owned by whoever is behind the platform.

Re:Java killer

[phantomfive]

Sorry, but no. Any intellectually honest developer has to admit that Visual Studio is miles ahead of almost any other IDE.

Any 'intellectually honest developer' will notice you didn't mention a single concrete idea in your post. Furthermore, if you don't buy the resharper plugin, visual studio is missing a lot of stuff Eclipse would give for free. And it must be useful stuff, otherwise people wouldn't buy the resharper plugin.

Apache Cordova

[Richard_at_work]

All of the CTP and preview releases have been shipping with Apache Cordova and an Android build target using mono for the underlying .Net implementation. Been like this for the past several months, targetting Android has been well known amongst .Net developers following VS2015.

Re:Probably Xamarin

[CastrTroy]

I think it will be helpful to everybody if they can get .Net code to compile for iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux. It will make cross platform development so much easier. It will probably help out to get more stuff on the Windows App store as well. Just being able to do iOS and Android in the same language will be a huge help to mobile developers. And if it takes minimal effort to also get the app to working on Windows Phone and Windows app store, then I could see a lot of developers switching to doing things this way.

Re:Oh, Phoronix

[Nemyst]

Or perhaps it's rather a reading comprehension failure on your part. Visual Studio 2013 has a Community edition, but this is talking about 2015, which isn't out yet.

Re:Probably Xamarin

[LateArthurDent]

People who want cross-platform on iOS and Android have had it since day 1. Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades. Then write a wrapper in whatever language the platform uses for the UI.

The problem is that most phone applications are typically 95%+ UI code. If you do that, you're not exactly going to save much time and effort.

Re:Probably Xamarin

[firewrought]

Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades.

Yep... just like people keep talking about this "car" gizmo when we've had decent horse-and-buggy technology for centuries! I don't understand why anybody would want to cross the country in this proprietary Ford nonsense when--with just a little knowledge of horsemanship, veterinary science, metal-working, carpentry, wilderness survival, food preservation, hunting, and gunsmithing--they could take the slow, dangerous, proven approach!