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Xamarin Open-Sourced

open.xamarin.com

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Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#31

Post by jeswin »

Honestly, I am a little tired of all the articles (edit: I meant posts) claiming MS is suddenly in the Open Source camp.

To truly support Open Source, they should show a willingness to work against Software Patents. The essence of Open Source is the freedom for anyone with a computer to turn their imagination into code. MS remains one of the biggest obstacles in that path.

Instead here is what they do:

1) Directly attack the Linux kernel in Android through patents

2) Sell patents to trolls like Intellectual Ventures, and directly fund them via investments

3) Support the cartel called BSA, which includes other luminaries like Oracle (http://www.bsa.org/about-bsa/bsa-members).

Honestly, say what you will about Google, but I can't imagine them ever threatening another software company with software patents.

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#32

Post by donniefitz2 »

koyote wrote: post #19

This is great news! Last time I used it (more than a year ago) it was still felt quite buggy. That being said, has anyone successfully used Xamarin or have an example of a large and successful app built with it?

I'm using it for a few projects. One for a client on the side and one for my primary job. It's really nice to work with. There are issues here and there, but overall, it's a very viable solution and I'm quite happy with it.

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#33

Post by donniefitz2 »

ywecur wrote: post #26
mandeepj wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Xamarin Studio is not getting open sourced. For more details, you can listen to this podcast from founders of Xamarin - http://www.dotnetrocks.com/?show=1276

Is it possible to use it without it?

With Xamarin, you can use it with both Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio. I believe XS is free now and you can get VS Community for free too.

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#34

Post by snuxoll »

edwinnathaniel wrote: post #27
snuxoll wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GTK# could use some serious love, as much as I enjoy Vala I would much prefer to be able to use Npgsql for database access than deal with the crapshoot that is libgda. Unfortunately after the GTK3 transition it seems nobody has really felt like maintaining GTK# much, meanwhile plain old C and Vala have been getting all the cool stuff (GTK composite templates, in particular).

I tried Vala once and didn't really like it. It's me not Vala. I enjoyed proper tooling: SCM (e.g.: maven), test automation (unit-test framework), some form of IDE.

GNU Autotools now has vala integration, just specifying .vala files in your source list will have automake run valac to generate the C files, which will then be compiled by GCC automatically. Going one further, the C files get packaged into your distribution tarballs so users don't need valac installed to compile your application.

The usual M4 headaches with autotools apply, but as long as you don't have some crazy build (just compiling libraries/binaries, linking with libraries, use pkg-config) it's not too bad.

As far as testing, GLib.Test [0] is part of the standard library. Since vala compiles to C at the end of the day there's no easy way to test other than just building a test runner, but it's not too bad to work with.

GNOME Builder is finally getting support for Vala in GNOME 3.20, it's still young but hopefully we'll have a first class IDE soon. Still, Builder has a long way to go before it even catches up with MonoDevelop, but progress is good, right?

[0]: http://valadoc.org/#!api=glib-2.0/GLib.Test

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#35

Post by Aldo_MX »

jeswin wrote: post #31

Honestly, I am a little tired of all the articles (edit: I meant posts) claiming MS is suddenly in the Open Source camp. To truly support Open Source, they should show a willingness to work against Software Patents. The essence of Open Source is the freedom for anyone with a computer to turn their imagination into code. MS remains one of the biggest obstacles in that path. Instead here is what they do: 1) Directly at…

I honestly disagree with your stance against patents, disregarding dull patents and the issues they bring like patent trolls, I really believe that the industry needs patents to prevent unfair competition.

The issue is the length of patents, the Software industry doesn't need 20 year-long patents, it's too much time, at most a patent should be valid for 5 years...

And well, we also need mechanisms to punish people who abuse the patent system with dull patents.

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#37

Post by iask »

koyote wrote: post #19

This is great news! Last time I used it (more than a year ago) it was still felt quite buggy. That being said, has anyone successfully used Xamarin or have an example of a large and successful app built with it?

I am also curious. Does anyone know of any good apps done with Xamarin?

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#38

Post by Cyph0n »

What I don't understand is why they had to purge the commit history. Did they not use Git internally? Do the commits contain sensitive information? Does it make it easier to clone the repo?

Re: Xamarin Open-Sourced

#40

Post by coldtea »

koyote wrote: post #19

This is great news! Last time I used it (more than a year ago) it was still felt quite buggy. That being said, has anyone successfully used Xamarin or have an example of a large and successful app built with it?

They have several on their webpage.
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