

MonoTouch for iPhone - C# bindings for native APIs - sandaru1
http://monotouch.net/

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jasonkester
It looks like you have to develop in MonoDevelop to use this, which is a bit
of a shame. After all, the reason most teams use C# in the first place is that
you get to use the best IDE around. Outside the context of VS.NET, C# doesn't
have nearly as much going for it.

Still, if it lets me avoid Objective C, I think I'll give this a shot.

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profquail
You can use C# with XCode: <http://code.google.com/p/cocoa-sharp-
dev/wiki/CSharpPlugin>

MonoTouch's site has a tutorial on how to use XCode + Monotouch:
<http://monotouch.net/Documentation/XCode>

~~~
rit
Additionally, FWIW, the entire GUI is done with Interface builder rather than
MonoDevelop.

MonoDevelop fires up interface builder, and then quietly rebuilds the backing
code when you're done editing. So they haven't completely reinvented the
wheel, it is using standard NIB files.

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rufugee
This gets my vote simply because I won't be forced to use an otherwise
unmarketable language like Objective C. Not that I hate the syntax...it's not
that bad really...but I hate that I'm forced to learn it _just_ for iPhone or
OS X development. I can't really use it elsewhere. With Mono/C# that's not the
case, and it's immediately worth it. I hope they'll target other phones and
make it at least possible to migrate your app from one to the other, but a
quick glance at the tutorials makes me suspect this is very bound to the
iPhone.

I'm also more than a little concerned that you have to pay for the dev
environment itself (with an evaluation version on the way). I really hate this
model. They should've gone the route of giving away to tools themselves for
free, but charging upon the need to deploy. This allows developers like me to
vet the platform before spending hard-earned dollars.

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mdeicaza
We are looking at fixing this.

There will be a free eval that will not require you to buy until you are ready
to test/deploy on the device.

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antonovka
Not being able to measure on-device performance and stability during
evaluation is a pretty big deal. The simulator is only useful as a smoke test,
even when using the native tools.

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rufugee
Actually, that's a very good point. I guess my wish is that one could deploy
to a device, but not actually upload to the appstore or sell without a
license. Testing on a device is absolutely crucial...

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ryanpetrich
Perhaps a mandatory nag screen at startup for binaries generated with the
evaluation edition?

~~~
jcl
Or perhaps display a page from the Kama Sutra? That ought to keep it out of
the App Store. :)

