Reply to: May be of interest to .NET devs who like Apple iwotnots

[Durbs]

My bro is just about to launch his first iphone game:

http://www.wordcrasher.com

Nice one!

[lightng]

My bro is just about to launch his first iphone game:

http://www.wordcrasher.com

He did it in C++ so it can be ported onto other mobile platforms easily.

Myself, I'm still working with the absolute basics of objective C. Woo hoo - I just made the screen say "Hello World" after pressing a button. I agree with Durbs about the event handler creation - it just sucks. Give me .NET any day.

[Durbs]

so I figure I might as well just stick with learning Objective-C.

Very good money to be had in that game.

[NickFitz]

What is missing?

$399 once I've bought that license

It seems like a decent option if you're looking to use your existing skills for iPhone stuff; I haven't touched C# in about five years, so I figure I might as well just stick with learning Objective-C.

Now if somebody had a tool that took XSLT and converted it to native code...

[Durbs]

garbage collection that's a bonus.

Very big bonus if you've dabbled in Objective C vs a .NET app.

Also event handler creation in xCode - WTF is all that about, its just wierd.

[DimPrawn]

You wouldn't want winforms on an iphone, and ASP.NET runs on the webserver.

I think you are really missing the point.

You design the GUI on a Mac just as you would any iPhone app and you code the event handlers and logic in C# using the .NET framework.

Simples.

You can have an app up and running on the iPhone in minutes.

Try that using Objective C and API calls.

Oops, null pointer exception, memory leaks, CRASH!

[VectraMan]

Furthermore, you still need to learn the iPhone APIs on some level, as it just provides C# bindings to them according to the Features page.

I think I'll stick with learning Objective-C and the native APIs using Apple's free developer tools

WHS. Anything worthwhile on the iPhone is going to be largely GUI based, and your knowledge of ASP .NET isn't going to help in the slightest (or Winforms/WPF/Silverlight if you're that way inclined).

But I guess if you can use the .NET string class and garbage collection that's a bonus. But I'd worry about the overheads of all that might be signifcant when running on a phone.

The new version of Adobe Flash can produce executables for the iPhone too (it's not the Flash player, Jobs still won't allow that). At least that's more designed for GUI work.

[DimPrawn]

$399 for a one-developer license (which only includes one year of updates).

The "extended subset" of .NET assemblies doesn't seem very extensive - then again it couldn't be, as it all has to either map to native APIs, or introduce massive bloat by re-implementing things.

What is missing that you feel is essential for iPhone dev?

[Durbs]

It's anoying one needs a Mac for Iphone dev.

It is annoying and i was miffed that i had to buy a Mac when i wanted to dabble in XCode.

BUT, it did me a big favour as i'd have never considered getting a Mac yet ended up buying a Mac Mini for dev work. Its now taken over the role of my main office/email/intraweb PC in the lounge and i really like the thing.

If you get a Mini, its fairly cheap, quick and a superb piece of whisper quiet hardware.

To go back to the OP - i'm reading it now with interest as i never really got into the Mac IDE, worked out it'd take too much time i didn't have to learn it but i can pump out a .NET app in mere moments.

[NickFitz]

$399 for a one-developer license (which only includes one year of updates).

The "extended subset" of .NET assemblies doesn't seem very extensive - then again it couldn't be, as it all has to either map to native APIs, or introduce massive bloat by re-implementing things.

Furthermore, you still need to learn the iPhone APIs on some level, as it just provides C# bindings to them according to the Features page.

I think I'll stick with learning Objective-C and the native APIs using Apple's free developer tools

[DimPrawn]

And how they include garbage collection into all that native code unless they prepack compiled version of Mono with the app (meaning it ought to be huge).

Also, they don't support Winforms, what would you use for UI on iPhone, WPF?

It's certainly interesting but then don't forget you'd probably need to get Apple to still "approve" your application, personally I hate this tulip with someone needing to approve my code - the only person who is entitled to do that is the user of the software.

http://www.infoq.com/articles/monotouch-introduction

Explains most of it.

[AtW]

It generates native iPhone code, no IL and no runtime required.

And how they include garbage collection into all that native code unless they prepack compiled version of Mono with the app (meaning it ought to be huge).

Also, they don't support Winforms, what would you use for UI on iPhone, WPF?

It's certainly interesting but then don't forget you'd probably need to get Apple to still "approve" your application, personally I hate this tulip with someone needing to approve my code - the only person who is entitled to do that is the user of the software.

[Sysman]

But then you have to know Objective C and you need to understand the full iPhone API.

That is the route I'd take, but for someone already competent in .NET MonoTouch hopefully provides a quicker route.

[DimPrawn]

OS X comes with a full development system included, on top of which it's USD 99 to join the iPhone Developer Program and get the iPhone SDK.

Not too bad if you already have a Mac.

But then you have to know Objective C and you need to understand the full iPhone API.

Here you get to use your familiar C# language, .NET library, garbage collection, threading, XML handling, LINQ, etc and have to just learn a new set of assemblies to handle drawing widgets and responding to gestures on the screen.

Much smaller learning curve if you are already C#/.NET expert.

[DimPrawn]

Does it generate native code for iPhone? If it requires user to install huge runtime then it's tulipy. Unless Apple preinstall it, which it certainly won't any time soon.

It generates native iPhone code, no IL and no runtime required.