I'm being drawn to the dark side... and it looks like .Net

[AutoDMC]

Like Ratbert in the Dilbert comic strips, I've tried to ignore it. But it seems that .Net is destined to dominate my programming destiny!

So I bought a book (so what if it was free at Fry's?) about C# and .Net. Sounds very interesting (like strangling people with a gesture), and now I need a compiling tool... hopefully for free... again! HAHA.

I know that there is a way to compile .Net for free, but I don't quite remimber it. I want to shoot myself in the foot (the other one... my right one is already wounded and it's called "typecasting") because I passed over a free copy of Visual Studio .Net. AARGH! Makes me want to launch lightning out of my hands, if you know what I mean.

So, what are my options.

Also, can I use the regular Irrlicht.Dll in .Net? My book seems to imply that it is possible.

Also, If I make a library in .Net (like my slowly developing scripting language), can it be called in a non-managed language (like C++), or am I trapped in .Net, forever for it to dominate my destiny?

Thanks for the pointers.

[disanti]

You can use Mono:
http://www.go-mono.com/
Mono has a working System.Windows.Forms as of now, I don't think it has every control programmed but it has most. Everything else is pretty much finished, it is a C# compiler written in C#... I'm not sure if it can compile straight to machine code, although it is a posibility. It uses the Mono byte-code by default.

Or DotGNU (I don't think there is a windows port yet):
http://www.dotgnu.org/
This compiler, based off of GCC (I think), will eventually be cross-platform (if it isn't already), and features a Portable.NET which has a more complete System.Windows.Forms. It can compile straight to machine code or to byte-code.

Other then that, I'm not very sure about a free Microsoft .NET SDK/IDE/whatever. I'm a linux only man now days...

I've turned to anti-microsoft lately, that it isn't funny...

So good luck on your search~ John DiSanti
________
ARIZONA DISPENSARY

[Murphy]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

[afecelis]

sharpdevelop is a cool c# IDE
http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Default.aspx
I think it uses the .net sdk tools to compile

[Spintz]

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/

[shurijo]

I know that there is a way to compile .Net for free, but I don't quite remimber it.

In the .NET Framework directory (under c:/windows), you can csc.exe to compile .cs txt files. There is also sharpdevelop, which afecelis mentioned.

In the next release of VS, Microsoft will be providing VS Express editions for free. (Express=limited functionality of VS.NET). You can download C# VS Express or VB.NET VS Express beta editions right now. The Express editions give you enough functionality to build applications, but it doesn't include things like source control, etc.

Also, can I use the regular Irrlicht.Dll in .Net? My book seems to imply that it is possible.

Niko wrote a Irrlicht.NET.DLL that works as a middlepiece to communicate with Irrlicht.DLL. But yet, you can make .NET apps talk with COM apps/libraries.

Also, If I make a library in .Net (like my slowly developing scripting language), can it be called in a non-managed language (like C++), or am I trapped in .Net, forever for it to dominate my destiny?

You can make a COM wrapper (pretty easy, a couple of lines of code per class) that allows C++ apps to use your libraries. However, your app will still require the .NET framework to work, it just allows COM apps to talk with it.