X-Git-Url: http://wien.tomnetworks.com/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=web%2Frationale;h=91cd3c7af7bdcb93d193377f67d88553c551b374;hb=4347c57e9783cf9348af2e0ec773024ab6d9b9fc;hp=a57132d939e8286bc3bbf1c274669ffbf8aa6156;hpb=6049b85accef724f847767f3b0a9e9033b8c34bb;p=mono.git diff --git a/web/rationale b/web/rationale index a57132d939e..91cd3c7af7b 100644 --- a/web/rationale +++ b/web/rationale @@ -1,44 +1,47 @@ -The Mono Project +* The Mono Project -* Background. +** Background. The GNOME project goal was to bring missing technologies to Unix and make it competitive in the current market place for desktop applications. We also realized early on that language independence was important, and that is why GNOME APIs were coded using a standard that allowed the APIs to be easily - wrapper for other languages. Our APIs are available on most + wrapped for other languages. Our APIs are available to most programming languages on Unix (Perl, Python, Scheme, C++, Objective-C, Ada). Later on we decided to use better methods for encapsulating our APIs, and we started to use CORBA to define interfaces to - components, and we complemented it policy and a set of - standard GNOME interfaces for easily creating reusable and + components. We complemented it with policy and a set of + standard GNOME interfaces for easily creating reusable, language independent components, controls and compound documents. This technology is known as Bonobo, and - easy to use interfaces to Bonobo exist for C, Perl, Python, + href="http://developer.ximian.com/articles/whitepapers/bonobo">Bonobo. + Interfaces to Bonobo exist for C, Perl, Python, and Java. CORBA is good when you define coarse interfaces, and most Bonobo interfaces are coarse. The only problem is that Bonobo/CORBA interfaces are not good for small interfaces. - For example implementing an XML parser component and use it to - parse, create and walk an XML document would be inneficient - compared to a C API. + For example, an XML parsing Bonobo/CORBA component would be + inefficient compared to a C API. -* Microsoft's .NET +** Another explanation + + I recently explained our motivations to Dave Winer, and he posted + it here + +** Microsoft's .NET The Microsoft .NET initiative is confusing because it is a company wide effort that ranges from development tools to end - user applications. - - Depending who you ask, you will probably get a different - answer on what .NET is, .NET is a branding name that has been - applied to: + user applications. .NET is a branding formative that + has been applied to: + + + Mono is an implementation of the .NET development platform. -* The .NET development platform. +** The Common Language Infrastructure platform. - Microsoft has created a new development platform, the + Microsoft has created a new development platform. The highlights of this new development platform are: + + + The Common Language Infrastructure platform is similar to the + goals we had in GNOME of giving language independence to + programmers. It is more mature, documented, larger in scope, + and has a consistent design. + + Any API that is written using a CLS provider language can be + used by any language that is a CLS consumer. Compilers + generate code in a format called Common Intermediate Language + (CIL) which is an intermediate representation of a compiled + program and is easy to compile to native code or compiled + using Just-in-Time (JIT) engines. The restrictions placed by + the runtime on the CIL byte codes ensures that it is possible + to do a good job at optimizing the code in a JIT compiler. + + There is not really a lot of innovation in this platform: we have seen all of these concepts before, and we are all familiar with how these things work. - What makes the .NET development platform interesting is that - it is a good mix of technologies that have been nicely - integrated. + What makes the Common Language Infrastructure development + platform interesting is that it is a good mix of technologies + that have been nicely integrated. The .NET development platform is essentially a new foundation for program development that gives Microsoft a room to grow - for the next years. + for the coming years. -* ECMA standards. +** ECMA standards. - Microsoft together with HP and Intel have submitted the + Microsoft has submitted the specifications of C#, the runtime, the metadata and the other various bits of the .NET development platform to the - ECMA for standarization. + ECMA for standarization. + + You can get a copy of the specifications submitted to ECMA + from: http://www.dotnetexperts.com/ecma -* Mono: The GNU .NET implementation. +** Mono: an Open Source Common Language Infrastructure implementation. Ximian has begun work on Mono, a project that aims to bring - the .NET development platform to free systems. + the Common Language Infrastructure platform to free systems. When the GNU project was launched, they picked the best operating system that was available out there, and they @@ -120,28 +132,56 @@ The Mono Project .NET development platform because it is a great platform to build on. -* What makes up Mono? +** What makes up Mono? - There are various pieces that will make up Mono: + There are various pieces that make up Mono today: + + + Other work-in-progress components: - * An implemenation of the .NET class library. + -* Why use GNOME components? +** Why use GNOME components? GNOME is an umbrella project that consists of infrastructural components (GUI toolkit, XML libraries, CORBA implementation, @@ -149,7 +189,7 @@ The Mono Project and productivity applications. The GNOME infrastructural components can be used to quickly - implement various pieces of the .NET API without reinventing + implement various pieces of the class libraries without reinventing the wheel, and since all those components are licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL it is a perfect fit.