[Mono-list] Using Mono on linux and deploying to Windows

Mon Oct 1 13:04:02 EDT 2007

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>I am looking to develop a new application and am considering my 
>choice of framework. .NET seems like a good choice.

It's a great choice

>Does anyone know if the gtk# libraries can be used in silverlight /
>moonlight? If not, what should I be using for GUI construction? It
>looks like Windows Forms are going to be somewhat deprecated in 
> favour of WPF/e.

Silverlight is the new name for WPF/e, so please use this name. On mono
that will be Moonlight. This is strictly web technology. It's also quite
limited and you can't make much of an application with it yet. It's
supposed to work along with ASP.NET which will provide the "standard web
style" functionality.

By the way, WPF is replacing WinForms. WPF is a much stronger GUI
framework that is also XAML based, but definitely hundreds of times
heavier than Silverlight. I don't know what the plan is on implementing
WPF in mono but I guess it will be done someday. Moonlight, on the other
hand, is much closer and already functional.

>If I start developing in GTK#, am I cutting myself out of the web? 

Yes. Like WinForms, GTK# is a fat client technology. They could be used
in a small way on a web server - to create cool graphics that could be
displayed to the user as a GIF or JPG, for example. Definitely not
interactive.

>If I develop with Windows Forms am I shooting myself in the foot 
>with regards to WPF/e?

Yes, and you're also cutting yourself off from the web. But WinForms is
still a great fat client technology. You can even use 1-click
deployment, also called Smart Client deployment, to deploy WinForms apps
over the web but that requires the users to have .NET loaded and I'm not
sure if that works with mono.

>Also, my preferred language (by and large) is Python. IronPython looks
>pretty good / stable. Would people recommend developing the core of a
>medium-sized application using C# or IronPython?

IronPython is not scheduled to be supported on Silverlight/Moonlight in
the foreseeable future. C# would be your only choice.

> are there any recommended mechanisms for
>tying in to a database system while using .NET 

ADO.NET will let you connect to many kinds of DBs. On the server side,
of course.

I don't want to burst your bubble, but php and Python or Ruby on Rails
would be about a hundred times easier for you to master if you don't
know any .NET today. I love .NET but I admit the learning curve is
steep.

You'd have to learn C#, the .NET Framework including ADO.NET, ASP.NET,
and Silverlight/Moonlight. That's a big job for you.

Eric

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