# Visual C#?



## juve_inferno (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi all,
is there a replacement for Visual C# on FreeBSD?


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## roddierod (Mar 18, 2009)

You can install MONO (which is in the ports) which is the OpenSource version of .NET/C#.

If your looking for an IDE like Visual Studio there is MonoDevelop, you'll have to download, compile and install it yourself. I've done it in the past and it "Mostly Works", it's very much like Visual Studio but the linking to mono assemblies seem convoluted to me. 

I haven't tried the lastest version of MonoDevelop as I prefer to do my FreeBSD programming in Python and have found no reason to use C# on FreeBSD.


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## drhowarddrfine (Mar 19, 2009)

roddierod said:
			
		

> I prefer to do my FreeBSD programming in Python and have found no reason to use C# on FreeBSD.



Or any of that .NET stuff, I agree. It's not at all within the Unix philosophy of proper program development.


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## roddierod (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm still trying to figure out what philosophy of proper programming it follows. The more I use it, the more I hate it.


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## Brandybuck (Mar 19, 2009)

Don't use it then. There's nothing C# can do that C++ or Python can't do better! ï¿½e

Well, not at the same time of course... Depending on the task at hand, either C++ or Python is usually a better choice than C#.


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## roddierod (Mar 19, 2009)

Brandybuck said:
			
		

> Don't use it then. There's nothing C# can do that C++ or Python can't do better!



Well C# can make a better mess of things than Python 

I wish I just couldn't use it. But my day job is working for a evil multinational health enterprise and you just can't use what ever want. Lucky my Python stuff is held over from before those times.


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## fonz (Mar 19, 2009)

In light of the C# is good vs. C# is evil debate I can't resist throwing in the following quote from Peter van der Linden's book "Just Java 2, 6th edition", page 7:

_*Java and Microsoft*

Java portability poses a real threat to Microsoft's monopoly. Software that can run on any operating system has a larger market than software that is limited to Windows only. Over time ISVs will move their products away from Windows-only to Java -- unless Java can somehow be spoiled or broken.

It is unfortunate for you, me, and all computer users that Microsoft uses its monopoly to try to undermine Java. At first, Microsoft introduced deliberate incompatibilities into the Java product it licensed from Sun. Microsoft paid $20 million to Sun to settle the resulting court case. In April 2004, Microsoft paid Sun a further $1.9 billion to settle Sun's litigation over other monopoly abuse.

The current Microsoft plan is to push the C# language, which is Microsoft's barely different copy of Java. But the core C# libraries will be only ever be_ [sic] _available on Windows (there's an open source effort to duplicate some C# libraries on Linux, but few believe it will lead anywhere). The C# initiative will last only until Redmond wants to push the Next Incompatible Big Thing. Java is shaped by the computer industry as a whole, and will be around until industry reaches consensus that there is something better to replace Java._

Granted: this was written by somebody who works (or has worked) for Sun and obviously likes Java a lot, which I don't. But still, there are some core truths in there. I don't mean this as flame bait, just as food for thought :e

Alphons (let's hope mr. Van der Linden doesn't sue me for copyright violations now...)


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## jemate18 (Mar 20, 2009)

I like Java cause that's required for my job... How ever at home, I wanted to install it to my FreeBSD,, but there are a lot of steps to do it because of the licenses of SUN.... I really forgot the message, but it says, I have to download some files manually...

Anyway, for the OP, I think if you really need to do C#, best platform for it is its home, MS....


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## fonz (Mar 20, 2009)

jemate18 said:
			
		

> I wanted to install it to my FreeBSD,, but there are a lot of steps to do it because of the licenses of SUN....



Sounds odd. I simply installed the Diablo JDK and away I went, happily coding (as happy as a long time C hacker could ever be with Java, that is).



			
				jemate18 said:
			
		

> Anyway, for the OP, I think if you really need to do C#, best platform for it is its home, MS....



Best platform? Nah. Better make that the only platform. C# is a Microsoft abomination best kept on Microsoft systems.

Alphons


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## jemate18 (Mar 20, 2009)

fonz said:
			
		

> Best platform? Nah. Better make that the only platform. C# is a Microsoft abomination best kept on Microsoft systems.
> 
> Alphons



Right  the "only" is the keyword.....


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## otisranson (May 11, 2009)

Brandybuck said:
			
		

> Don't use it then. There's nothing C# can do that C++ or Python can't do better! ï¿½e
> 
> Well, not at the same time of course... Depending on the task at hand, either C++ or Python is usually a better choice than C#.



How many web pages do you know that use C++?  Probably 0.  How many websites use C#? A load more than Python or C++ together. 
I'm a fan of "Right tools for the right job" adage.

I think MonoDevelop was created to give companies a free alternative to Visual Studio.  It's not a philosophy at all, I don't think.  I was under the assumption, "Hey, here's a challenge to put .NET on Linux, Let's do it!"
Just a guess.


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## otisranson (May 11, 2009)

Oh yea, here's a video of an interview with the VP of the project.

Channel 8


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## Djn (May 12, 2009)

otisranson said:
			
		

> How many web pages do you know that use C++?  Probably 0.  How many websites use C#? A load more than Python or C++ together.
> I'm a fan of "Right tools for the right job" adage.
> 
> I think MonoDevelop was created to give companies a free alternative to Visual Studio.  It's not a philosophy at all, I don't think.  I was under the assumption, "Hey, here's a challenge to put .NET on Linux, Let's do it!"
> Just a guess.



Now, I generally agree with you, except for one thing: C#/asp.net ever being the right tool. Ugh. Been there, done that, hated the arcane magical mess that needed debugging as soon as something decided to stop working. A nice python/django app is way easier to wrap your head around - though I'll agree that visual studio is a better tool than the editor+browser combo I used for the latter.

I like C# as a language, though. And I'll even stretch to saying that it's rather pleasant to write windows apps in - my issues are with asp.net, not c#.


Back to the original question: Depends. 
- If you just want a program to write applications (not web pages), I'd suggest java and netbeans. Java and c# look very close to each other, and netbeans is to java much the same vs.net is to c#. As a bonus, the programs will run on both windows and FreeBSD.
- If you really have to use c#, and it's for standalone apps: You'll have to look into mono.
- If it's for c#/asp.net web pages, you can get surprisingly far with just a text editor (and a server to test it on).


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## otisranson (May 12, 2009)

Djn said:
			
		

> Now, I generally agree with you, except for one thing: C#/asp.net ever being the right tool. Ugh. Been there, done that, hated the arcane magical mess that needed debugging as soon as something decided to stop working.




Hah! It does suck pretty bad. :e


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## hydra (May 12, 2009)

Consider python, perl, QT/GTK or something similar.


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## Brandybuck (May 12, 2009)

otisranson said:
			
		

> How many web pages do you know that use C++?  Probably 0.  How many websites use C#? A load more than Python or C++ together.
> I'm a fan of "Right tools for the right job" adage.



Funny, I thought the right tools for a web page were HTML, CSS, XML and ECMAscript. What you do on the backend server is up to you, but I suspect that Python ranks way up there in popularity.  Along with PHP and Ruby.


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