SharpDevelop GNU .NET / Mono IDE
We're developing a small in-house
database application again here at CG,
and due to the fact that we're a nonprofit, we simply can't afford to
migrate the whole organization to Office 2003 just to make my life a
little easier while coding.
Working with Access 2000's "access project" link to mSQL is far superior
to developing a straight access database, and as a quick and dirty Rapid
Application Development platform it really does get the job done.
The problem is that this is now a very old, VB6 based platform, and the
rest of the world has moved on to vb.net. There were so many quirks and
problems with the VB runtimes that the whole system was scrapped in
favor of the .NET shared runtime and a new vb compiler.
Fed up with things simply not working the way they should, I went in
search of an alternative to Microsoft's wildly expensive Visual
Studio.net.
After a few minutes of googling for "Mono IDE" (mono is
the GNU
implementation of the .NET api) I
came up with a few choices.
For
windows, which I use at work, the most mature seemed to be SharpDevelop, so I
took the
plunge.
I've worked with many IDEs over the past 7 years, and I don't think I've
ever been as impressed with one as I am with SharpDevelop. It's quick,
light, and smart, and the GUI development tools are right on the money.
So far I've hit 0 bugs and effortlessly went from a little HelloWorld
form to an MDI (Multi Document Interface) design complete with
windows-style professional looking menus and functionality.
If you've been waiting to try out .NET because you don't have a copy of
Visual Studio, download SharpDevelop now.
As a quick aside - VisualStudio comes on 4 CDs and loads your system
with MSDN docs, the .net runtimes, and loads of other stuff you don't
need.
SharpDevelop is 5 megs, most of us already have the .net runtimes (if
you don't you can get them at WindowsUpdate) and google works a
heck of
a lot better for me
than MSDN ever did.
3:57 pm | permalink |
/technology/opensource |
0 writebacks |
Please Let Me Be Wrong
I've had a surprising number of my ruminations about the direction of our
country come true in the past 4 years, but this doesn't make me happy,
it makes me scared. Among my predictions:
- We would go to war with Iraq (predicted at the onset of the
offensive in Afghanistan)
- Abu Ghraib abuses were rooted in policy trailing all the way back to
the
White House
- The Democrats would nominate a lame duck to open the "Hillary"
window in
2008 rather than 2012
For posterity, now that we are assured another 4 years of Bush, GOP
dominated Government,
and religious extremism, I am going to put my predictions for the next 4
years
here. I hope more than anything that I am wrong.
On the war and terrorism
- Iraq will not only last 3+ more years, but we will also begin cold
war
style sanctions and non-military offensives
against:
- Iran
- North Korea
- At least one other "terrorist center"
- One of these will blossom into a military confrontation
- The Draft will be reinstated.
- Here on the home-front, there will be another attack, this time
with the terrorist cell claiming to be centered within the US
itself.
- Patriot II will be pushed through, further limiting our
Civil Liberties and permitting discretionary wiretaps on all
citizens. Those who speak out will be on terrorist watch lists.
Neighbors will be encouraged to report any suspicious activity.
On domestic policy
- Bush will appoint 2 more Conservative extremists to the Supreme
Court.
- They will overturn Roe v. Wade
- And ban stem cell research
- Congress will uphold and expand the DMCA.
Get out your tinfoil hats - there's some doozys up there. Please, 4
years from now, let me look back at this post and say "Thank god I was
a nutcase and none of that happened."
12:45 pm | permalink |
/life |
3 writebacks |
