J# and compactframework

[Eugen Feraru]

Hello,
Does anybody know what are Microsoft's plans for integrating the J# as a
language of choice in the .Net compact framework?
Thanks,
Eugen

 

[Tim Wilson]

No plans that I've heard of, but the focus will probably be on, if anything,
getting managed C++ delivered first and then go from there. If MS implements
J# support for the CF I can't see it being anytime soon.

 

[Eugen Feraru]

Thank you for your reply.
Eugen

No plans that I've heard of, but the focus will probably be on, if anything,
getting managed C++ delivered first and then go from there. If MS implements
J# support for the CF I can't see it being anytime soon.

 

[Ed Kaim [MSFT]]

That's correct. There are no plans to implement J# anytime soon. The idea
has been discussed, but there has been no developer interest. We've gotten
responses like "yeah, I guess it would be nice, but I'll just use C# until
then". Managed C++ won't happen in Whidbey, but may afterwards if there's
enough demand.

Would anyone use managed C++?

 

[Tim Wilson]

Would anyone use managed C++?
Personally, no. I was just throwing out the idea of getting MC++ out there
as a language priority over J#. If implementing MC++ for devices would take
away from the time spent on the development effort for increased designer
support in VS as well as increased functionality in the CF then I wouldn't
think that MC++ would benefit people enough to make that kind of sacrifice.
I think C# and VB.Net are two very good options. And I see myself sticking
with C# as my language of choice for quite some time to come, even if MC++
was an option for device development.

 

[Alex Feinman [MVP]]

If implementing MC++ for devices would take
away from the time spent on the development effort for increased designer
support in VS as well as increased functionality in the CF ...

Don't forget that a lot of P/Invoke code will become unnecessary since we
will be able to write managed components that do what we need to do and not
what we a restricted to doing now

 

[Ed Kaim [MSFT]]

This is good feedback. I appreciate the responses.

 

[Lloyd Dupont]

That would be usefull.
we would be able to used 3rd party JDBC driver when they don't provide
ADO.NET one, like it's my case right now ...

Anyway obviously it won't be done ...

 

[Tim Wilson]

Good point. It's just that a fair number of people don't know C++ and those
that do have undoubtedly already "chosen" to use C#. So by the time MC++
sees the light for device development I don't know how attractive this would
actually be to devs. I guess that would have to be proven with a language
survey of some sort, but investing the time in building a stronger framework
itself seems to open up the door for people who use both existing languages
(C# and VB.Net) today.

 

[Guest]

I found this in the Mobility Sessions section of the VS Live conference in Toronto (in May)

"Visual Studio "Whidbey" Development for Smart Devices
May 6, 11:45 a.m
Learn how the next-generation release of Visual Studio, due to RTM this year, will bring its RAD productivity to mobile applications. The IDE, and language (VB.NET, C# and J#) are all enhanced to make writing software to run on mobile devices, from PocketPCs to Smartphones faster and more productive. Insights on the latest pre-beta build are anticipated.

That seems to imply the coming availability of J#, although there's always the possibility of this being a copy/paste from a full framework session and J# wasn't removed from the list... (been there, done that.)

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

Michel,

That sounds like a typo. What I saw of Whidbey at PDC showed VB.Net, C#, and
unmanaged C++ as the languages supported for smart device development.
--
Ginny Caughey
..Net Compact Framework MVP

I found this in the Mobility Sessions section of the VS Live conference in Toronto (in May):

"Visual Studio "Whidbey" Development for Smart Devices
May 6, 11:45 a.m.
Learn how the next-generation release of Visual Studio, due to RTM this

year, will bring its RAD productivity to mobile applications. The IDE, and
language (VB.NET, C# and J#) are all enhanced to make writing software to
run on mobile devices, from PocketPCs to Smartphones faster and more
productive. Insights on the latest pre-beta build are anticipated."

That seems to imply the coming availability of J#, although there's always

the possibility of this being a copy/paste from a full framework session and
J# wasn't removed from the list... (been there, done that.)

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

Sounds like the real benefit would be from a bridge from JDBC or ODBC to
..NET CF, rather than support for a new language. Can you currently use J# on
the desktop with a JBDC 'driver' to access those databases, or is this a
problem on the desktop, also?

Paul T.

 

[Jules]

Well, I don't really want to ue C++, but when we need to integrate
with third party COM components on the PocketPC, we have to resort to
the horrible monster that is eMbeddeded Visuals toolset in order to
wrap the COM components in C++.

So something that makes it easier to integrate with C# COM components
on the PocketPC would be appreciated.

Jules

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

You can use CFCOM from Odyssey Software to get COM interop with .NET CF on
your PPC. Of course, that's money that you have to spend, but it's a lot
easier, if you use a lot of COM objects, than writing your own wrappers for
them all.

Paul T.

Well, I don't really want to ue C++, but when we need to integrate
with third party COM components on the PocketPC, we have to resort to
the horrible monster that is eMbeddeded Visuals toolset in order to
wrap the COM components in C++.

So something that makes it easier to integrate with C# COM components
on the PocketPC would be appreciated.

Jules

"Ed Kaim [MSFT]" <[email protected]> wrote in message

That's correct. There are no plans to implement J# anytime soon. The idea
has been discussed, but there has been no developer interest. We've gotten
responses like "yeah, I guess it would be nice, but I'll just use C# until
then". Managed C++ won't happen in Whidbey, but may afterwards if there's
enough demand.

Would anyone use managed C++?

"Tim Wilson" <TIM(UNDERSCORE)WILSON(AT)ROGERS(PERIOD)COM> wrote in message

 

[Ed Kaim [MSFT]]

If they're saying J#, it's probably in reference to either building mobile
Web apps or building Tablet PC applications. J# will not support the .NET
Compact Framework, so I think this might have been a slight oversell by the
presenter

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

Hi Ed,

Good point about other mobile devices that don't run CE and Web apps. There
are indeed ways to "mobilize" J#.

 

[Nonymous]

That's correct. There are no plans to implement J# anytime soon. The
idea has been discussed, but there has been no developer interest.
We've gotten responses like "yeah, I guess it would be nice, but I'll
just use C# until then". Managed C++ won't happen in Whidbey, but may
afterwards if there's enough demand.

Would anyone use managed C++?

I would. Both for writing my own code and for using pre-existing code
provided by others.....

I've run into several opensource & freeware projects that make use of
Managed C++ that I'd like to see runnable under the CF. Tor example,
there's an ADO.Net interface for SQLite databases available that's written
in Managed C++. The interface has hooks into the standard 'C' interface for
sqlite which itself has been ported to WinCE and works no problem via
straight eVC. But since the interface is Managed, it's impossible to get at
the eVC 'C' interface via any CLR language under the CF. It's a no-brainer
under the regular framework, though.
That's just one example. I've run into several others. Another off of the
top of my head is a freeware TreeListView control I encountered a while back
that I think used Managed C++.