I ask since a project I work on generates a single, monolithic DLL of about 50 MB size.
Does a large library like this one impede performance, or can it bring other gotchas?
UPDATE:
I work with Embercadero RAD Studio Delphi 2010 on Windows (XP|Vista|7).
In .NET, you should prefer a few large assemblies rather than many small assemblies.
See: Does .NET assembly size affect performance?
Related
Do Windows Phone 8 Application developed for Windows Phone 8 device will run on Windows Surface Tablets (RT & 8.1)? Kindly clarify me.
Could you please suggest me on, what are the changes required for migrating the application.
Take a look on the Portable class library.
It allow you to share your code between different platform.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg597392(v=vs.110).aspx
This blog clearly explains how to use it :
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/stephe/archive/2012/05/07/partager-du-code-entre-plate-formes-gr-226-ce-224-la-portable-class-library-1-4.aspx
Anyway you got specific dev to do.
You will need to rewrite many portions of the application. It's difficult to be more precise as you did not describe anything about your application.
The UI, assuming you select C# and XAML for the Windows 8 modern application will need a significant amount of changes. While there will be a significant amount of knowledge overlap and technology similarity, the UI will not be portable. The components are similar, but for example, you've probably used the Windows Phone toolkit which is not available for a Windows 8 store application. Another consideration is that on the larger screen sizes, you'll ideally want to use a different layout of your application.
For the business logic, you may be able to use much of it as is. However, anything that deals with the file system or network (and more) will not necessarily be portable. You could use a portable class library for some features, but you may still need platform specific code.
While this all may sound like a tremendous amount of work, I'd actually like to suggest that it's not. The platforms are very similar, the development environment will be identical, and some amount of UI work would have been necessary anyway. Assuming you create two applications, the structure might look like this:
PhoneApplication
Windows8Application
DataModel
PortableClassLibraryStuff
PhoneSpecific
Windows8Specific
A lot of differences beetween WinRT and WP8 API makes porting much more difficult. But if you are still interested in this topic I can suggest you
Waiting for WP8.1 and W8.1 Update 1 API combination or
Writing your own little framework in a portable class library for navigation, setting, notification, ... support. I already did that work and there are a lot of possibilities for code sharing (resources can be completely shared with the binding notation of WP8). For more information please visit the opensource github project: Github MultiPlatform Framework sample. You will still need to rewrite a lot of xaml code but the leaked footage of the WP8.1 API already showed that we will be able to use much more shared UI code :-)
I am getting into ActionScript-ing and SQLLite development.
What are the essential development IDEs and utility tools I should get set up for a smooth development experience?
It would be great if you categorize - as free and paid-for-software.
I am accustomed with the Microsoft "free" experience in terms of - Visual Studio Express edition or SQL Server Express edition.
Are there similar counter parts for this platform?
FlashDevelop - Open source IDE for flash but no visual designer. As far as SQLLite you can actually create and manage the databases all with actionscript but if you want to edit/create them with an IDE there are several open/free solutions, from a quick google search we have:
//SQLLite DB manager/admin tool made in Adobe AIR
http://www.dehats.com/drupal/?q=node/58
//Same idea but open source made with QT so probably C/C++
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/
//FlashDevelop
http://www.flashdevelop.org/wikidocs/index.php?title=Main_Page
Flashdevelop is pretty much king when it comes to code hinting/completion, pretty much what you'd expect in features from microsoft VS IDEs. There is also a pretty good user base and thus many tutorials/documentation and project templates.
I too use the DB admin tool formerly from www.dehats.com, which has since been renamed Lita and put on GitHub . However, a significant drawback to Lita is its complete lack of runtime error reporting when executing SQL queries.
Mauricio Piacentini is an excellent programmer, but Flash developers should be aware that his
SQLite Database Browser does not support the non-standard features added to AIR's version of SQLite, such as additional column affinity types.
So, as a complement to Lita I've been using Paul Robertson's Run! app. It doesn't have as many features as Lita, but it supports AIR's version of SQLite and it does report errors in your SQL queries.
Like Ascension, I'm a fan of FlashDevelop.
I'm looking for a development platform (language and set of libraries) that will allow me to develop a personal project. (In case anyone is curious, I'm looking at making a music library manager, similar to iTunes, that can work on multiple platforms and sync with Android devices).
I want the language to have the following characteristics:
Essential
The program must run flawlessly, with no (or very little) code changes on Mac, Linux, and Windows. That means, notably, that I need to have a cross-platform GUI framework, a consistent API for accessing files and directories, and a consistent interface for talking to USB storage devices
Important
A language that is easy to use, powerful, and expressive. Big standard libraries with a lot of built-in functionality. (I'd probably use C#/.NET but the portability isn't great)
Nice to have
Good tool support (on Linux if possible, but I'll do my development on Windows if needs be)
Not Java. (I have used it and just don't like it - I'm not interested in getting into a language war here).
Please help me choose a language!
Python
Cross platform GUI: more than one option, I'd use WxPython, but Qt bindings are also available (comparison between wxWidgets and Qt).
File System API: this gets into the os package, but there are also convenience methods for just dealing with I/O.
USB I/O: I confess to not having any knowledge here, but suspect if you're talking storage that Python will be able to read and write using its IO package.
Libraries, Ease of Use, etc..: there's a lot built in, but also a huge number of add-ons (called "packages"). Some of the most notable are SciPy and NumPy, used for scientific and numerical analysis.
Tooling: there are a number of IDEs out there, I use PyDev (but it's Eclipse based so you probably won't like it if you don't like Java).
Finally, Python is supported on Android via its scripting environment.
For cross platform GUI, you can explore QT. The back-end can be on c.
Have you explored anything so far?
Qt quick ?
Simple question, I want to know is Java free (especially for web development). Later on if I've build a large website, will the servers, databases cost me much like in .net for example?
Cheers.
Java is free. Check licences of frameworks you're using, but you shouldn't worry about that since most of them are free.
Servers (physical) will, of course, cost you.
There are free application servers like Glassfish and JBoss.
There are free databases like mySQL and PostgreSQL.
So, you can get away with everything being free except hardware and, possibly, hosting of your web app.
Yes and no - depending on how big your site gets, you may be required to invest more money into better servers/databases.
It's not really something that can just be answered, without looking into the future.
Update, as of 2021
Be sure to read the document prepared by pillars of the Java community, Java is Still Free. This document provides a short overview as well as a longer section with all the gory details.
Understand that Java is a set of specifications, not a product.
Java Language and Virtual Machine Specifications
JEPs and JSRs
Many vendors provide binaries or installers for an implementation of Java. Nowadays, all of those implementations are based largely or entirely on the OpenJDK project. Participants including Oracle, IBM, SAP, Apple, Azul Systems, and more have banded together to pool their best technologies for implementing Java as open-source free-of-cost.
The OpenJDK project provides only source-code. Various vendors build that source code to provide binaries or installers for you and me to conveniently put Java on our computers. Some of their distributions of Java are available free-of-cost, and some are commercial with paid support. Some are general-purpose JVMs, and some are special-purpose. Some are a basic JDK and some have bundled extras.
Here is a diagram I made to help you in choosing a vendor for a Java implementation.
And some considerations to think about when choosing a vendor.
I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages of using Microsoft Access would be compared to just creating a custom C# application. Is the execution time the same? Has its time already passed?
C# is a generic development environment designed for producing all applications that can be conceived of.
Access is a development tool specifically designed for one purpose, i.e., creating front ends to databases.
All the components within Access are prebuilt to make interaction with data as easy as possible.
While it is certainly the case that there are libraries and controls available for C# that are designed for the purpose of interacting with databases, there's less integration of the overall development environment for the particular purpose of creating database applications.
Access's database-related components are also more mature than anything that could be developed for C#, since Access has been around twice as long. That also has its disadvantage, as some of the assumptions about how things should work in Access don't work as well in a modern environment (Access was created before the web existed anywhere outside of academia).
I think it's probably OK to choose C# as a development platform for a database application if:
the developers available are already C# whizzes familiar with building database interfaces, AND
you have the need to distribute your app to very large numbers of users.
Access is somewhat difficult to deploy, and in large organizations, when you amortize the savings in RAD over large numbers of desktops, that is quickly dwarfed by the expenses associated with Access deployment issues compared to a self-contained executable with no runtime dependencies.
But we're talking about somewhere well above 100 desktops where the line is crossed (and possibly closer to 500 or 1000), in my opinion.
Access has many plus points if you are dealing with data. One key point to make is to split in your head “Access” (RAD development studio where you make forms reports code etc) and “Jet” the database engine that in bundled with Access.
Access makes a great front end of other database types such as SQL server and you can very quickly make excellent data driven applications very quickly.
You also have an excellent built in reporting suite and easy access to other MS Office applications (sending mail through outlook for example)
Access has picked up somewhat of a bad reputation in IT circles as IT departments have been burnt before by having to support some badly put together application where the original “developer” has long since left. The point is that any language can be used to make a bad application but because more people have access to err access it increases the chances of someone who is not a developer making mistakes!
In my not so humble opinion, the big advantages of MS Access are the low learning curve and the the so much is already done for you. Simple apps can be built by an untrained clerical worker.
That's also one of the biggest disadvantages. MS Access applications are often first started by complete novices and they can get them selves into a lot of trouble. Quite often they get to the point that they are dependant on the app that has been built to do their job, but it needs to be expanded, or has become unmanageable because of some early "decisions" they made they they first started building it (e.g., using some human readable key to reference another table, with no integrity constraints, etc.; and now they have a lot more data than they started with).
Typically by the time that I see it, there's a lot of work to do to undo the previous "developer's" work. And sometimes it'll cost more in time to fix it, than to start over.
Left in the hands of a pro - it's fine for building quick simple apps. Even more complex ones are OK if a pro is doing it. If I had my way, we'd just hand out the runtime version and keep the full version to the IT Pros.
The advantages are the pre-built functionality along with the ability to write custom code when needed. Of course, all of this can be done in C#, it's just not as easy.
The biggest disadvantage to using Access is having at least one answer to every question on SO suggesting using something else. Or better yet, having someone knock Access eventhough they know nothing about it or haven't used it since 2.0.