At 11:01 am -0230 9/8/00, Theodore Norvell wrote:
>I've been following this discussion, but there are so many new buzzwords
>coming out of microsoft that it's a bit confusing for those not
>in the know. Is there a quick way to summarize the relationships
>between
> .NET
The name for a whole set of stuff from MS
> NGWS
An older temporary name for .NET. NGWS? Never Goes Wonderfully Sucks?
I think somebody shot the marketing guy and replaced him, she then
came up with ".NET" :-)
> C# (which I've discovered is intended to be pronounces C-sharp
> rather than C-hash)
MS's version of a "better C", "better" is subjective of course ;-)
> the .NET virtual machine
Under .NET compilers compile to IL, this is then JIT'ed and executed.
"JIT" includes such options as "JIT at install time" (a new defn of
JIT!). MS are keen to point out that IL code is never interpreted.
> COM
I'm too young to know about COM, but I hear it was less than wonderful
>Why does the world need C# when it already has Java and C++?
Who invented Java & C++?
>Why does the world need a .NET virtual machine when it has
>dozens of Java Virtual Machines? Don't COM and Corba already
The argument here is that .NET is designed from the ground up to
support multiple languages, the JVM was not. So languages can
interwork, share libraries, and even extend each others classes. How
successful the .NET project has been awaits your (the public's)
decision...
>provide interlanguage and network interoperability? Why is it
>important for Haskell to fit into .NET?
It will make Haskell easily available to zillions of PC's run Windows
while also allowing Haskell to call/be called/use libraries from C#,
C++, Cobol, SML, Mecury, Object Pascal, etc., etc. That's the theory
anyway.
>I hope this isn't too far off topic.
Well we've wandered a bit in this thread already...
Disclaimer: I don't speak for MS (or anybody if they get the option),
read their PR. I'm typing this on a Mac in an MS office I'm visiting.
I'm biased on everything. Etc. :-)
--
Nigel Perry, New Zealand
