[Mono-list] A couple of questions...

[Miguel de Icaza]

> 1. Although I realize we are developing in a windows environment until the
> tools reach a point we can move to a Linux platform, are we really targeting
> windows as a platform for Mono after that point?

Why not?  It would help our friends developing on Windows to be able
to test and develop the software.

And if we build a better jitter that Microsoft does, then it would be
good for consumers to use our jitter.  

In this world of heterogenous systems, the more platforms we support,
the better, because that allows hackers to work on the project no
matter what system they choose or happen to be using.

Imagine that you feel like hacking over a weekend on a cafe internet,
and you think `Man, I wish I could write a code optimizer for the JIT
while my web mail loads', well, that wont be a dream anymore!  You
will be able to contribute right there!  In the middle of Paris or in
some virgin island on the pacific.

> 2. I am fairly certain that the native type for "string" in Microsoft's .NET
> will be UNICODE. Will this be the case with Mono or will we opt for ANSI
> strings to be the native "string" type?

We could support both.  For now, we will use 16-bit encoded Unicode
(that is what Microsoft uses).  In the future, we might want to store
our runtime strings as UTF-8 and provide conversion operators when
needed (for example for mobile devices).

But in the particular case of mobile devices, it would  be good to
have the EMCA people allow for both the current encoding and UTF-8 to
minimize the size of executables (consider again, palm-like devices,
where you do not have a lot of room).

Miguel.