Re: PostgreSQL and C# - Mailing list pgsql-general

Nonsense.  You are not falling behind.  We all have to learn sometime.  Also, I am learning C# and Mono myself.  Remember, all the people working on Mono C# had to learn C# too. 

If you want to help with the PostgreSQL System.Data.OleDb Provider in C#, come on over to http://www.go-mono.com/ and lend a hand.  The best person to talk to, if interested, is to email Rodrigo Moya at address rodrigo at gnome-db dot org.  He is the maintainer of Gnome-DB.  For more info about gnome-db, see http://www.gnome-db.org/

The efforts for creating the PostgreSQL provider in C# for Mono can be used in creating the PostgreSQL C# provider for dotGNU’s Portable.NET, Microsoft’s .NET Framework, and Rotor.   This way, no matter what language that you use that compiles to IL and runs on a CLR, you can access data from PostgreSQL databases.

Because Mono’s class library uses the X11 license (which is like the BSD license), it is open source.  You can use it in both open source and closed souce programs.

-----Original Message-----
From: medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com [mailto:medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com] On Behalf Of Medi Montaseri
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2002 12:33 AM
To: Daniel Morgan
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and C#

Thank you very much Daniel....very informative....I guess I'm falling behind
on these new technologies indeed......good lecture.....

Cheers...

Daniel Morgan wrote:

This link will tell you what the Mono:: project is all about.

http://www.go-mono.com/rationale.html

They have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) as well at:

http://www.go-mono.com/faq.html

To answer your questions, the Microsoft .NET is a "branding" that means many things.The Microsoft .NET Development Framework includes the .NET runtime (virtual machine and class library), compilers, linkers, assemblers, disassemblers, debuggers, etc..It does not include the GUI IDE, you need Visual Studio.net orSharpDevelop for that.

Java has many meanings: it is a technology, it has a virtual machine, it is a programming language, it has a compiler, etc...

Java has a Java Virtual Machine which was designed from the ground up for the java programming language.

The big deal about .net is that it was designed from the ground up to support many languages. Microsoft .NET Development Framework includes many compilers for various languages: C++, C#, Visual Basic, and Jscript (JavaScript/ECMAScript).

Many companies have created compilers for the .NET CLR (Common Language Runtime - this is the virtual machine for .NET).Fujitsu has created COBOL.NET,ActiveState has create PERL.NET and Python.NET compilers.There are many others out there.Even Borland plans to come out with Delphi and C++ Builder for .NET.

COM/OLE/ActiveX/DCOM/COM+ or whatever new name Microsoft came up with was originally supposed to solve the problem of writing programs using "objects" in different languages - easy to develop, update, and maintain - no matter what platform (in Microsoft terms, this meant Windows 95, Window NT, etc), programming language, or compiler you used to create your objects.You could create an object in Visual Basic, extend it using C++, and then use that inherited class in J++.

This fail short.

.NET was Microsoft's answer to that promise they made to their developers many years ago.Sure, there are different "component object modules" like CORBA, COM, XPCOM, SOM, and many others - but they are very hard to develop IMHO.

I am not going to get into a discussines about the pros and cons between jvm/java and .net/C# though.Simply because I am simply a programmer and not a software architect, so those kind of discussions I have no use for.I am only interested in what future programming positions I can get. 

Microsoft submitted their specifications for C# and the CLI (Common Language Infratstructure) to the standards body ECMA. ECMA has since standardized it.

The Mono:: project is working on a C# and CLR for Linux.Currently, it works on Windows and Linux with other people trying to get it to work on FreeBSD and MacOS X. The C# compiler can build itself on Linux using its runtime.

Mono has created two CLR "virtual machines" .One is an interpreter that interprets the Intermediate Language bytecode.The other is a JIT (Just-In-Time compiler).A .NET program running on a JIT is much faster than on the interpreter; however, the interpreter is easier to port to another platform. The interpreter is called mint while the JIT is called mono. The C# compiler is called mcs.

Disclaimer, I am no expert at this. I am still learning C# and .NET.If you liked Java, you will like C# and .NET.

Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com [mailto:medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com] On Behalf Of Medi Montaseri
Sent:Thursday, April 11, 20021:56 AM
To: Daniel Morgan
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and C#

Actually I don't know anything about C# yet. I just read a bit about it and
put the book down when I found out that it is a Bill Gate thing....but I am
happy to see it making its way to Linux.... 

I suppose I need to learn a bit more about C# first. I think its a Interpreted
Language like Java requiring a *VM. But  I don't know what .net is.
I keep reading that .NET is a Development Framework. But I have seen
this Development Framework so many times in my 16 years of programming
that I don't know what is going on any more. The words don't even make sense
to me. What is a Framework? Is it an assembler, a linker, a compiler, a text editor,
a shared library, a GUI wordprocessor, a database. What is a FrameWork? Is it
a company name or a process of submiting expenses? I give up. 

Then there is JIT, CIL and probably more acronyms. Anyways, you can see, I'm falling behind in this terminology thing. So if you feel like educating me, I'd appreciate it. 

Cheers... 

Daniel Morgan wrote: 

Yes, there are three alternatives to Microsoft .NET Framework:

Mono C# and CLR which works on Windows and Linux at:

http://www.go-mono.com/

Portable.NET which works on Linux at 

http://www.southern-storm.com.au/portable_net.html

Rotor which is Microsoft's shared source C# and CLR available for Windows and FreeBSD:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/Dndotnet/html/mssharsourcecli.asp?frame=true

I'm currently working on Mono right now.Those guys are moving pretty fast - they already have a C# compiler that can compile itself on its own CLR under Linux and Windows. There are people working on the C# bindings to gtk/gnome and qt/kde.Rodrigo Moya is working on the database access (System.Data etc) in Mono C#.The first provider we are working on is the PostgreSQL provider.After that is working, we will create other providers.

Want to help?

-----Original Message-----
From: medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com [mailto:medi@ncmx02.mgw.rr.com] On Behalf Of Medi Montaseri
Sent:Wednesday, April 10, 200211:27 PM
To: Daniel Morgan
Cc: 'Matthew Stanfield'; 'PostgreSQL General Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and C#

Daniel Morgan wrote: 

Thanks for the help.  However, I'm more interested in a direct approach
from C# to the PostgreSQL client library.  Also, this must be able to
work under Windows, Linux, etc...

Are you saying that C# is available for non-Microsoft Operating Systems?

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Medi Montaseri                               medi@CyberShell.com

Unix Distributed Systems Engineer            HTTP://www.CyberShell.com

CyberShell Engineering

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Medi Montaseri                               medi@CyberShell.com

Unix Distributed Systems Engineer            HTTP://www.CyberShell.com

CyberShell Engineering

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