.NET on Linux
Progress and Futures
Vinod Unny
Enterprise InfoTech
Microsoft Regional Director, North India
What is .NET?
New programming paradigm for Windows
Integrates Web and Desktop programming
Provides choice of languages
Portable across platforms:
Desktop
Web
Device
And OS!
Microsoft .NET??!!!!
Why should a Linux user/developer ever
consider .NET??!!
95% desktops run various versions of Windows
67% of Enterprise applications are Windows
based
Corporate houses require to target Windows
enterprise applications
Can try out a new technology on Linux
Can write Linux apps now too!
.NET How-to
Windows
.NET Framework 1.1 + SDK (Free)
Visual Studio.NET 2003 (Licensed)
Linux/Others
Mono (Ximian/Novell)
Portable.NET (The DotGNU Project)
Rotor (MS)
Windows
.NET SDK:
Free!
Command line tools
VB.NET, C#, JS.NET, J# compilers
Samples, docs, debuggers, etc.
Visual Studio.NET 2003
Priced! (but eval. available)
Totally RAD
Many more tools and faster deployment
Mono
Non-MS .NET implementation with most
features
Offers:
console applications
ASP.NET
ADO.NET
C# only compiler – no VB.NET, J#, etc.
Almost compliant with .NET 1.0
Release 1.0 expected in Q2/2004
What you can do with Mono
Console applications that work in Linux as
well as Windows
ASP.NET and ADO.NET based
applications
XML operations
Web Services
What’s important that’s missing
VB.NET!
Why: Use VB knowledge to do .NET on Linux for
saving costs!
Windows.Forms!
Why: Imagine creating complete Windows
applications on Linux. Again cost savings.
System.Management!
Why: Creating .NET apps (console or GUI) that can
manage Windows servers from Linux
And more…
Remoting, Enterprise Services etc.
DotGNU Portable.NET
ECMA (334 [C#], 334 [CLI]) compliant
No JIT as yet
uses an “execution environment”
Compiles to native code using Converted
Virtual Machine (CVM)
C# and C compilers
Only one to provide WinForms
functionality
What you can(not) do with DotGNU
WinForms
does not use a toolkit (qt, gtk, wine) wrapper
No ASP.NET
Separate project called DGEE allows Web
Services
The future of .NET - I
“Whidbey” introduces:
Generic Types
ASP.NET 2.0
XQuery
Layouts in WinForms
ObjectSpaces
Timeframe:
2004
The future of .NET - II
“Longhorn” introduces:
WinFS
Avalon
WinFX
Indigo
XAML
Aero
Timeframe:
2005/2006
Future of Linux.NET?
Compatibility with 1.1 minimum for becoming a
viable alternative platform
ASP.NET, Web Services, WinForms support
essential
Esoteric classes can be ignored for now
RAD tool for faster and better development
Tighter cooperation between the different
projects
Aim for the future: Whidbey and Longhorn
Questions?
Vinod Unny
vinod@enterpriseinfotech.com