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Matt McGuire wrote: If Xamarin sponsors Mono, and Mono supports multiple languages (not just C#) why wouldn't Xamarin?
I believe Xamarin has focused on C# and F# because of the strong integration with Microsoft's tooling. I expect to see a stronger partnership between the two companies, perhaps even an acquisition[^].
Matt McGuire wrote: I've avoided C# thus far
Nothing wrong with that. However, if you're in the Microsoft space, there are several advantages to using C# over C or C++ (more than can be fit into this post). For me (being a C# developer), Xamarin provides the ability to be productive writing Android code a lot faster than using Java (in which I'm proficient) and Eclipse/XStudio. It also allows me to build for iOS/Mac without the need to learn (and work around) Objective-C.
However, I can see why native Java and Objective-C devs would have little interest in learning C# to use Xamarin to build their apps. Java/Eclipse,XStudio and ObjectiveC/XCode are well suited tools for building apps for their respective platforms.
/ravi
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What about ... dare I say it ... VB (gasp).
Or Fortran.NET .... COBOL.NET.
I've mentioned COBOL 3 times this week. I fear my account may get deleted.
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I have respected COBOL diploma somewhere. Never coded a single line of it outside of that course though.
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I recently did some VB.NET work. For a few days, close together, a year it's not that bad.
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I know, I use VB not C#.
But there are those here that just LOVE their curly braces and semicolons. It's a bit like Catholics and heaven - they like to think they're the only ones here!
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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PhilLenoir wrote: I've mentioned COBOL 3 times this week.
Identification, environment, data, procedure... ah... fond memories. 
/ravi
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Exactly, lots of developers know and use VB (although getting constantly slammed for language choice gets tiring). With VB.net and C# being functionally equivalent, and compiling to the same IL; why not add it?
I've actually had a COBOL book sitting in my wish list on amazon for the last 6 months now, temped to buy it and learn something new (old?  )
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I try to ignore it. Much of the banter is meant in good humour. I've lived through many variations of technology prejudice.
At Uni, much of my study was using C and Unix. My first job was in a VMS shop (bah! Unix, bunch of hackers!) They were horrified when I added some shell script batch commands to unixify my environment (removing a directory was painful under VMS, to say nothing of DIR *.*;* and deleting all versions of a file!).
Dos => Windows - "All I need is a C prompt!"
My involvement with VB was VB3. As a dyed in the wool C guy, it was a bit of a joke. Except it wasn't. It was great for prototyping and building user interfaces. With VB4 and OO (sort of) we were off to the races and I became a convert.
I later did a project with a C++ programmer who had coded VB6 like C++ and the performance was awful and the code lengthy. After I sorted it out, he became a convert too.
Tools have their strengths and weaknesses. Plain C is truly dangerous, although what you can sometimes achieve with 3 lines of code ... C# clearly doesn't have the issues that C has, it's a great tool but I personally don't like the style. The truth is that, generally, we prefer the tool we are most familiar with (shortcomings and all!)
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I sponsored a guy to run a marathon, but I'll be buggered if I'll let him do it in my house.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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What part would have been impressive?
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I wasn't that impressed with Xamarin when I evaluated it. It seems promising, but has a lot of holes and the documentation and support leaves a lot to be desired. Then there is the absurd pricing.
EDIT: For those curious, for the full product they charge $1899 per developer per platform per year. The most recent project where this would have been used involved four platforms and, once we got going, at least three main developers. $22,788 per year isn't chump change for a small company (not indie, bigger than 20 employees and been around longer than 3 years) and for that, I expect stellar support, far fewer bugs and a much more complete SDK.
modified 6-Nov-14 12:39pm.
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I used Qt [the project was cancelled, hence the past tense.] It can be quite goofy, but is much more complete and has pretty good documentation.
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Can you use that with c#? I think it would be fun dusting off my C++ skills, but I'm not sure how much support it would get from everyone else here.
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No, it's C++. Internal forums and Stack Overflow seem to be go to places for Qt support. (I've received very good assistance from both.)
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+1 for the absurd pricing, we are the people they should be courting for business and they don't even have a proper free dev or academic license for evaluation.
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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I'm currently evaluating them via Xamarin Studio, for free, and have had great support from them so far. I think I can get 1 month's trial of the full VS version for a sum of money that won't break my bank account (haven't checked the small print). I'm serious about using their product to make money, so I don't mind putting down a little up front. I think we have to get over this we-want-everything-for-free mindset that descends on everyone once they go on the internet.
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pkfox wrote: they don't even have a proper free dev or academic license for evaluation.
Actually they do. And if you're an MSDN subscriber your eval license (with support) is automatically extended to 90 days.
/ravi
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Matt McGuire wrote: Everyone has their own personal preferences.
Well since you insist - Java stinks!
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Matt McGuire wrote: not trying to start a flame war here
Too late, it's on like Donkey Kong!!
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I don't like C# either, I'm more into VB or languages without all the {{{}}} and ;;;;;
But since there are a lot of translaters out there to convert VB into C#, we don't have to worry. In my case, I guess I just have to code in VB and once done, let an engine translate it to me into C#. Never tried Xamarin though, so no proof that will work well but it seems doable.
It also seems that Xamarin uses the MSIL code, that same code VB is turned into just like C#. If this is true, VB can easily be implemented as well in Xamarin. To be continued...
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
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Agreed about the {{{}}} if the indenting is off (or forgotten), it is a pain to find the subtle problems.
I really do prefer:
sub ...
if ...
for...
...
next
end if
end sub
But I sometimes admit the C# can look a little cleaner in it's language like the for loop
C#'s switch seems messy, but VB's select feels more flexible.
Trade off's I suppose.
Dabbling in D (not .NET). really liking this lang, even if it still uses {{{}}};;
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