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Novell brings .NET and C# to Android developers
SOFTWARE VENDOR Novell has released a software development framework for anyone looking to build Android apps with Microsoft's proprietary .NET language C#.
The firm said that Mono for Android, which is an addition to its existing Mono software, will let developers build Microsoft .NET applications while remaining in their Visual Studio comfort zone.
Novell already offers a Mono for Ithings development framework, but the size of the Android market has tempted it into widening its horizons. In a statement it added that its Android's 29 per cent consumer market share makes it the most popular smartphone OS around.
"Since the introduction of MonoTouch in 2009, developers have experienced how Mono streamlines mobile application development," said Miguel de Icaza, Mono project founder and VP of developer platforms at Novell, who added that the firm is doing it for the kids.
"As a result, many asked us to build a similar tool for Android. We developed Mono for Android to give both individual developers and businesses a way of sharing their code across multiple mobile platforms, increasing efficiency and reuse of their C# and .NET expertise across the board."
Mono for Android packages together the core Mono runtime as well as bindings for native Android APIs and an SDK that includes tools for testing, debugging and deploying .NET Android applications.
Prices for Mono for Android vary and Novell said that one enterprise edition licence will set a developer back around $999 for twelve months. A five developer licence is priced at $3,999, while the non-business but still Pro version costs $399 for the year. µ
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and use a real cross-platform mobile framework that supports standard development languages, and the latest version of Qt is available on all popular platforms unlike Mono, which lags the latest .NET by at least a version or two, and is yet to port much of the more important front-end technology (it covers a lot of the simpler back-end stuff) meaning app developed in .NET that will also work on Mono/Android will remain but a pipe dream. Mono is not .NET, and unless Microsoft pitch in an make it so it will never be compatible with the latest version of .NET which is being used by WP7.
Here you have the same Qt apps on Symbian and Android - same codebase, just recompiled:
http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/04/05/video-real-qt-apps-from-symbian-to-android/
And the same apps on Symbian, Maemo and MeeGo (again just recompiled - no code changes):
http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/04/05/video-real-qt-apps-from-symbian-to-android/
Qt is also available as standard on WebOS, and a version is available for iOS.
.NET? Who cares?
Any chance of actually checking the facts before pushing "Publish" button?
C# is not .NET. C# is language, ECMA standard, not proprietary and anyone can implement their version of C#. That is what Mono project does - and gnuNET, for example.
Try to understand the difference between a platform and a language.
It's a good thing to have Mono, but a bad thing to have mono, right?
Just wanted to clear that up.