Visual Studio 2015 Can Target Linux; Android Apps Anywhere Chrome Can Run 96
jones_supa writes Phoronix has noticed that the Visual Studio 2015 product page mentions that the new IDE can target Linux out of the box. Specifically the page says "Build for iOS, Android, Windows devices, Windows Server or Linux". What this actually means is not completely certain at this point, but it certainly laces nicely with the company opening up the .NET Framework. And speaking of cross-platform software: new submitter mccrew writes Google has released a tool that lets Android apps run on any machine that can run its Chrome browser. Called Arc Welder, the tool acts as a wrapper around Android apps so they can run on Windows, OS X and Linux machines. The software expands the places that Android apps can run and might make it easier for developers to get code working on different machines.
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For iOS, supporting PhoneGap and random WebKit for Linux makes sense.
With open sourcing of the .NET framework, Linux C# makes sense.
I'm not sure how the Javaness of Android might be tamed, other than processing .NET bytecode to Java bytecode.
I'm not sure how C++ would work. Considering Corona uses Lua to Objective-C, and Marmalade is kind of an anything goes, there are possibilities way beyond an uninformed anonymous coward.
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what a mishmash of broken garbage these stacks are now.. no wonder nothing's secure and simple program logic that was fine with 66mhz and half a meg of ram now needs a 3ghz cpu and 2gb to run acceptably.
None of that makes sense if performance is of any concern (it should be), along with seamless integration into the environment.
Apache Cordova (Score:1)
Java killer (Score:3, Interesting)
Looks like C# is closing in for the kill. I've read that a starter version Xamarin/mono is going to be integrated into VS.
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*LOL* And this is the year of the Linux desktop, too, right?
There is a lot more holding up C# domination of the world than Java. Like itself.
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Yep, I'd say that Java isn't holding up C# at all.
Re:Java killer (Score:5, Interesting)
In the C# world, it's like the great masters on high give us features and we use them. This is an example of that attitude [youtube.com] (and it's actually rather poetic, if not sickening).
In the Java world, a new framework comes along when someone says, "we have a problem to solve, what is the best way to solve it?" They are there, working in the trenches, trying to solve the problem themselves. Like Maven.....some guy had problems with builds and said, "there must be a better way." And he built that way. In Java there are often multiple competing solutions to the problem, and eventually one is voted as the best.
So it's the cathedral vs the bazaar. The cathedral is fine, don't get me wrong, they work hard at it; but it has the feel of product managers, feature checklists, and dispassionate programmers.
The passionate programmers create a better product, and they're in Java world. (Note: I don't even particularly like Java, I just recognize there are differences between the Java and C# ecosystems).
Re:Java killer (Score:4, Insightful)
Voted the best? And then the rest disappear? Because I'd expect that there's 9 competing ways of doing almost the same thing, sometimes within the same project, with breaking changes between versions. Maven is a pretty terrible example, too... Nuget is a thing. Seems like every platform has a similar package manager concept, and it's generally not owned by whoever is behind the platform.
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Nuget is a thing.
Yes, I know.....and another word I would use to describe that thing is a 'joke.' Seriously, how many times has Maven corrupted your project files? This is actually a problem with Nuget.
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The core language, Java and C#, are different, they have different design motivations.
Java is designed to be safe for less-competent programmers. You can let low-paid programmers loose in Java, and the code won't get messed up beyond repair. It'll be ugly code, but it can still be worked with. This feature is why people are calling Java "the COBOL of the new millennium."
C# started by copying
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I've used C# Java and Delphi extensively for years now, I'd say C# the language, bears a lot more similarities to Java than Delphi.
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In the C# world, it's like the great masters on high give us features and we use them. This is an example of that attitude [youtube.com] (and it's actually rather poetic, if not sickening).
Regarding that video, /.ers might recogize the name of the speaker: Jon Skeet.
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Not really, having programmed in both C# and java this week, I much prefer Eclipse to the mess that is Visual Studio.
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Sorry, but no. Any intellectually honest developer has to admit that Visual Studio is miles ahead of almost any other IDE. Don't be another developer who, for religious reasons, claims Eclipse is better because "it has this one very specialized feature than isn't applicable to 95% of the users, but I cite as a reason because it's one of the few things it does that visual studio doesn't". Even then, 99% of the time some Eclipse zealot says VS can't do something, it's because they are what I would call am
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Okay ... and I've moved to VS 2013 for about a year now, and haven't had any issues.
Perhaps your installation is corrupt ...
Re:Java killer (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, but no. Any intellectually honest developer has to admit that Visual Studio is miles ahead of almost any other IDE.
Any 'intellectually honest developer' will notice you didn't mention a single concrete idea in your post. Furthermore, if you don't buy the resharper plugin, visual studio is missing a lot of stuff Eclipse would give for free. And it must be useful stuff, otherwise people wouldn't buy the resharper plugin.
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Translation: I personally like Visual Studio better, probably because I used it first and got used to it, and I am unable to tell the difference between my personal preferences and an objective comparison of the capabilities of different applications.
I will now respond to the person who replied to me with a cherry-picked example of some random thing of trivial importance that I know how to do in Visual Studio and not in Eclipse.
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I will now respond to the person who replied to me with a cherry-picked example of some random thing of trivial importance that I know how to do in Visual Studio and not in Eclipse.
He couldn't even find a cherry-picked example! I don't think the guy you responded to knows what he's talking about.
Re: Java killer (Score:2)
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I tried IntellJ, it was ok, but I found that I was better off using Eclipse and spending the money on beer.
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First, when you say shit like "intellectually honest developer" you are committing an Ad Hominem logical fallacy in your argument, therefore making your argument invalid.
Now, why do I think VS is a hot mess? Stuff like this:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.... [microsoft.com]
When the features of your IDE is driven by the bean counters, then it is time to switch.
Apache Cordova (Score:5, Informative)
All of the CTP and preview releases have been shipping with Apache Cordova and an Android build target using mono for the underlying .Net implementation. Been like this for the past several months, targetting Android has been well known amongst .Net developers following VS2015.
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Yep. It's cordova - which means web apps (technically hybrid since you can bridge to native functionality). I haven't used a single cordova/phonegap app that I've liked, and I actively look to avoid them. It's generally pretty easy to tell. I'm sure this is just ticking a box for marketing, nobody building anything remotely serious will even consider this.
Probably Xamarin (Score:2)
That's how they got cross platform for iOS and Android.
Re:Probably Xamarin (Score:4, Insightful)
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People who want cross-platform on iOS and Android have had it since day 1. Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades. Then write a wrapper in whatever language the platform uses for the UI.
If your complaint is that you want cross-platform Ui code as well- no you really don't. The two platforms are so different that you'll never get an app with a good look and field without writing 2 separate UIs. Unless you want to release an Android like UI for Apple (which will g
Re:Probably Xamarin (Score:4, Insightful)
People who want cross-platform on iOS and Android have had it since day 1. Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades. Then write a wrapper in whatever language the platform uses for the UI.
The problem is that most phone applications are typically 95%+ UI code. If you do that, you're not exactly going to save much time and effort.
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Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades.
Yep... just like people keep talking about this "car" gizmo when we've had decent horse-and-buggy technology for centuries! I don't understand why anybody would want to cross the country in this proprietary Ford nonsense when--with just a little knowledge of horsemanship, veterinary science, metal-working, carpentry, wilderness survival, food preservation, hunting, and gunsmithing--they could take the slow, dangerous, proven approach!
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I think you missed the point. People want cross-platform GUIs, where the compiler/assembler/linker will automatically reshape the UI to fit the target device's HIG. More like saying "we've been using the internal combustion engine for decades in cars and motorcycles. If you want to increase horsepower, improve the fuel injection that's used in both." If someone comes up with an electric engine replacement, that's still not going to make a new car dashboard suddenly make sense on a kawasaki.
People have b
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So maybe this stuff will measure up later but it's still got a bit of proving itself to do before it's a mainstream option.
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It is not just a "wrapper for the UI code" there is a shitton of stuff, just for starters there are all the sensors (gyroscope, gps, camera), permission handling, packaging the app, interaction between apps, background services and a lot more stuff that differs from one platform to the next.
Yes you can share much of your application logic between each platform using C/C++, but:
1) You need to write it in C/C++
2) If your app mostly just talks to a server there is not much application logic in the mobile devic
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People who want cross-platform on iOS and Android have had it since day 1. Write your logic in C or C++. Its how cross-platform has been done for decades. Then write a wrapper in whatever language the platform uses for the UI.
Are we allowed to use someone else's wrapper? Because that's all* Xamarin is.
*There are more differences between alternate platforms than just the UI. (For example, the sensors you have available are different on iOS and on Android. You also get access to an SD card on Android sometimes.) Xamarin abstracts this stuff too, by the way.
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Phonegap
Appcelerator
Sencha
QT
Unity
If Microsoft wants to compete here, they need more than just a free cross-platform tool. They need to demonstrate that their tool is worth using, more than all the others.
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Except that it'll only be cross-platform for as long as Microsoft wants it to be. What will happen to non-Microsoft platforms if, say five years from now, they decide to say, "Sorry, we're done supporting other platforms." Will software companies that have been using VS all that time re-write their (possibly entire) code base in another lan
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That's how they got cross platform for iOS and Android.
Actually, they've been pushing Cordova. Xamarin is an option, but the free starter edition that will work with the Community Edition of visual studio still looks far too limited for seriously development, while the business edition is unreasonably expensive.
The visual studio 2015 preview includes cordova projects targeting android, though.
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"And because these JavaScript APIs"... does that mean that the idiotic and uninformative anonymous coward with the initial reply was correct?
If so, these two things do not go together. And I need to nerd rage on social.msdn.microsoft.com instead of here.
Mod parent up (Score:2)
Android Apps Anywhere Chrome Can Run (Score:1)
Did Yoda create the headline?
Oh, Phoronix (Score:1)
I initially thought that the reason What this actually means is not completely certain at this point" was because the product had been announced. Then I saw a big fat "download the free community edition" link, and realized that this was another one of those journalistic failures that Phoronix calls "articles". Seriously, how hard is it to try out the product you're reporting on for 3 seconds to see if the feature that your article is reporting on exists?
Re:Oh, Phoronix (Score:4, Insightful)
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Somehow it's hard to take Delphi seriously......
...I always thought that Oracle should have bought Borland instead of Sun....
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Read the small print (Score:2)
Surely you must be joking. (Score:1)
I'm not and stop calling me Shirley. The day I use Visual Studio to code anything for use on Linux is the day MSFT skypes me a video of their holding my parents hostage.
Why "target"? (Score:2)
Can someone tell me why "target" is used in this case? I understand that it means you can develop for that platform, but I'm unfamiliar with the etymology behind the term.
Is it commonly used in this context? Is "target" a term of art for IDEs?
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The word "target" in this context refers to the runtime operating environment for which the executable is being built. This is common usage for compilers, which may be able to "target" multiple processors, or variants on architecture.
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Thank you.
They only just noticed? (Score:2)
So Phoronix has only just noticed this? This was discussed on Slashdot [slashdot.org] five months ago.
Cordova and Xamarin (Score:2)
I'm installing VS 2015 CTP as I type, the cross platform mobile options in the installer are Apache Cordova *and* Xamarin. It shall be interesting to see how it works out in practice.
C++ on Linux (Score:1)