Get Started with Mono

[ArticleBot]

This is an article discussion thread for discussing the SitePoint article, "Get Started with Mono"

About time :-)

[zakruvalcaba]

Phil's a trader.

[archigamer]

i thought it was traitor

[ChrisCarter]

It's good to see people starting to pick up the platform, I think Philip hit the nail on the head when he talks about this freeing .NET from the confines of the Microsoft platform. Linux is steadily gaining momentum as an enterprise platform (obviously, with adopters such as Oracle, Sun, IBM, Novell and HP), and the ability to transfer applications from the Windows world to the Linux world will only make our jobs as developers easier.

Oh, and don't forget that Mono supports generics (before the MS implementation even)

[zakruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by archigamer

i thought it was traitor

Buahahahaha, what a numnut I am.

[miseldine]

My problem with Mono, and why I'd hesitate from using it as-is, is it will always play catch up to Microsoft's own releases of .NET. Version 2.0 which we've all (or, should have by now!) experienced is a great leap forward for the platform, yet one which Mono will have to redevelop for.

So, hehe, I enjoyed my dabble with the traitorous dark side of .NET, but I missed Visual Studio too much Oh, and pretty icons

[miseldine]

Oh and Dibby...I thought you'd approve

[ChrisCarter]

I don't necessarily see Mono playing catchup. Whidbey/2.0 won't have a beta we can legally use for production until some time Q1/2 next year, and a release who knows how long after that. In contrast, Mono has released their 1.0 version exactly when the predicted, and included generics, a feature I've wanted since I started using .NET several years ago, but haven't been able to (until now, with Mono) because Microsoft's development timelines keep slipping.

Mono's roadmap places 1.2 at late this year, early next year, and if they hold their deadlines like they have in the past, Mono users will have access to a stable platform supporting the features from .NET 2.0 before Microsoft users (ie, the long-time coming ASP.NET features). I like Visual Studio, but I like Eclipse better. There are several solid .NET implementations for Eclipse in the works, and once those are fully cooked (hopefully about the time 1.2 rolls around), Mono will have a platform to fully compete with Microsoft's implementation.

Now, to provide a disclaimer - I'm a former PHP and Java developer who has recently moved into the .NET world. I like the .NET platform more than either PHP or Java, simply because all of my company's work is targetted for the web. We don't build client-side applications because we feel they are a thing of the past. That's a philosophical choice, though. However, it does make Mono completely viable for us, as we don't target a specific user platform (ie, Windows or Unix). Thus, we would choose the server platform which would best support scalability, functionality, and security. Right now we're developing on Windows/SQL Server, but we'll be moving to Oracle/Linux sometime in the next year and a half. Therefore, I fully support the Mono Project (I donted money several times before they were picked up by Novell) and what they're doing.

[miseldine]

Well, Microsoft ultimately have the say on the shape of .NET. Functionality is moving all the time in regards to Whidbey betas, for example, special folders in beta 2 are going to be changed (bin retained for compatibility).

Even now, Mono users can't use ADO.NET fully yet nevermind the latest additions in 2.0. I'm not saying it won't happen or Mono is just a flash in the pan, but Microsoft control .NET and that makes anyone looking to host it on a different operating system are dependent on the releases from Microsoft, unless, one day Microsoft decide projects like Mono are important to them.

And, that's the day Windows dies And, pigs fly, perhaps

[ChrisCarter]

Originally Posted by miseldine

but Microsoft control .NET and that makes anyone looking to host it on a different operating system are dependent on the releases from Microsoft, unless

Tell that model to people still running System 36 code for payroll

[miseldine]

I would tell it to anyone who was trying to mimic the .NET framework on an alternative OS as its critical to its operation!

[ChrisCarter]

My point was that once you develop an application for a core business process, you're not going to re-engineer that application for every new release of the framework that comes along. Heavy-duty web applications built on .NET 1.1 won't be re-engineered simply because .NET 2.0 comes out, unless there exists some core feature in 2.0 that makes it cost-effective to pay for development.

Because of this, if the feature-set in Mono does what you want (in our case), it makes a perfectly viable alternative to the Microsoft implementation. Microsoft's continuing developments to their own implementation have no effect on the stability or featureset of the version of Mono being used to develop an application right now. If MS updates the C# standard, a new version of Mono will be developed, and applications from that point forward will target that featureset.

You don't go switching your frameworks in a production environment, unless you've discovered some new feature that will help you better adapt your application to your business processes. Keeping your technology on the bleeding edge is great for academics, but in the real world you follow the old adage - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". At least until you can prove the cost of migration to newer tools is worth it

[miseldine]

Fair point, I was arguing from the point of the Mono project rather than developers who would try and target it with 1.1 applications.

Academia does deal with the business world all the time btw., and their concerns are both sources of research and of course realised in any implementations

[datad]

I'm intrigued with Mono but don't know if I'll ever use it, coming from a UNIX/Linux background, and never comfortable with working in a Windows programming environment. So, Mono could have a lot of attraction for Windows people trying to get in to Linux, but I'm not sure that Linux people will even use it unless they have to.

[M. Johansson]

Originally Posted by datad

I'm intrigued with Mono but don't know if I'll ever use it, coming from a UNIX/Linux background, and never comfortable with working in a Windows programming environment. So, Mono could have a lot of attraction for Windows people trying to get in to Linux, but I'm not sure that Linux people will even use it unless they have to.

It seems from your comment that you have not actually seriously tried developing in .NET. It's very different from the old windows programming. It's model is more like Java than it is like windows.

I'd love to actually start using Mono - assuming I could ever get it to work. Every avenue I try to get it installed leads me to a brick wall. This tutorial sounded simple enough, and worked up to the point where it says to use the 'make' or the 'make install' commands. When I type that, the response I get is "make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop." What's up?

hello dbt,
did you do a
./configure
before the "make"?
maybe there was an error, try to find out what went wrong. maybe you are missing some libraries.
what distribution are you using? mabye there is a precompiled package for you

[hgilbert]

Mono: works with ASP.NET and Console Programs

it does *not* do GUI yet (ie Windows.Form)
they scrapped the Wine implementation and went for Cairo and SVG instead
they are miles behind even making a form that can handle the most basic of controls (drop-down list, radio buttons, progress bar).

But they will get their eventually (18 months time?)

[DaveMichaels]

What is Cairo?

[hgilbert]

About Cairo

Before Mono was using W.I.N.E

I find myself running into problems with the example. Can you give some hints, please?

The first example runs all right. But with the second one (which I called "index.html", when I point my browser to <http://localhost:8080/> I get this result in the browser's window:
----------
<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
----------

I reckoned that it had to do with xsp not being able to parse the page.

I tried changing permissions (chmod a+x index.html), to no avail.

I tried renaming the file to "index.asp" (don't ask me why, I just don't know :). Now the browser, instead of showing me the result, offers me the save the file on hard disk...

What am I missing here? Thanks in advance for any help.

>The first example runs all right. But with
>the second one (which I called "index.html",
>when I point my browser to
><http://localhost:8080/> I get this result
>in the browser's window:
>----------
><%@ Page Language="C#" %>
>----------


You should name the file "index.aspx", html files are delivered verbatim.

when ever i am using class libray in mono like using system.
i am getting a error, cannot open assembly .plz give how to solve these probleme
where to type these program.either in vi editor or any special editor is there in mono

"perhaps in the near future, .NET developers will be able to develop for Linux as easy as we develop for Windows today"

It exists -- http://www.wxwidgets.org/