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Thread: [Resolved] [Resolved] SWFSource Release Date

  1. #1
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    The final release of SWFSource may be delayed for some time. We are in the process of going through a merger with another company and that has put the project on hold as we are devoting 100% of our time to the merger and some of the projects involved. About 16 hours a day I am behind a misc. computer terminal somewhere programming... so it doesn't leave too much time for anything else if you know what I mean. Pretty cool stuff in the works...

    In any case, I have had an idea and wanted to run it by some peoples.

    Microsoft will be releasing its .NET framework in about a month. If you have not read up on it, do it now before you get left in the dust. .NET is going to change the industry so much it isn't even funny (when the linux guys all jump on the MS bandwagon before MS even releases the product you know MS has something really good).

    In any case, I am debating rewriting SWFSource in C# as SWFSource.NET. This would allow the lib to be truly cross-platform, integrated with any language, dynamically generate internet content, etc., continuing the process of making SWFSource a million times better than anything else out there.

    What does everyone think about this?

    --Jesse

  2. #2
    Originally posted by JAEzell

    Microsoft will be releasing its .NET framework in about a month. If you have not read up on it, do it now before you get left in the dust. .NET is going to change the industry so much it isn't even funny (when the linux guys all jump on the MS bandwagon before MS even releases the product you know MS has something really good).
    ...is your company merging with Microsoft????? :-)

    In any case, I am debating rewriting SWFSource in C# as SWFSource.NET. This would allow the lib to be truly cross-platform, integrated with any language, dynamically generate internet content, etc., continuing the process of making SWFSource a million times better than anything else out there.

    Cross platform? When Microsoft will release .NET frameworks for all the rest of the platforms...

    Integrated with any language? We do this already with COM, COM+ etc.

    My 2 cents: making SWFSource a million times better than anything else doesn't involve the language is written in.


    Cheers,
    Lev

  3. #3
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    My 2 cents: making SWFSource a million times better than anything else doesn't involve the language is written in.
    dotNET doesn't just mean C# - that's just one of a number of different languages that will compile to run on the CLI (dotNET's VM/bytecode). Hopefully SWFSource will compile and run as "managed" C++ on the CLI - if not then that is where effort needs to be spent.

    MONO and dotGNU (which are the open source efforts to duplicate parts of the dotNET architecture) are still under development - so the picture for running dotNET executables on other OS's isn't totally clear yet.

  4. #4
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    Yes....I guess Managed C++ is an option also. I'll look into that (I am using C# really heavily right now and am really liking it).

    --Jesse

  5. #5
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    Enhancing the code to fit different platforms does not mean it will become better only more available, but you still have the basic problem - ZERO documentation!!! Get that basic bit sorted out then more people will be able to use your stuff.

    Spend a couple of days doing a few little examples of various aspects beyond the really straightforward buttons etc, so that people can get a full understanding of what's needed instead of each person having to spend a long time just getting to understand what each line of your code does so they can do simple things.

    The only way any library can stand on it's own two feet is by allowing the user to think of it as a black box tool, and to do that there needs to be a manual that gives information on how it's used - not just a generated dump of the library structure - which is useful, as an appendix, but not for learning.

    Don't bother wasting your time on other stuff until the basics are done.

    Just my 2 cents.

  6. #6
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    Heck, make it in java, then you have cross-platform,
    dont have to recompile or buy compilers

  7. #7
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    Originally posted by sheltercove
    Heck, make it in java, then you have cross-platform,
    dont have to recompile or buy compilers
    JavaSWF already exists - although that shouldn't deter anyone from porting other toolkits to Java

    http://www.anotherbigidea.com/javaswf/index.html

    There's also JGenerator - a free Java version of Generator.

  8. #8
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    Yes, I'm aware of Jgenerator. I've been using it as a
    matter of fact, but it doesnt handle alot of file types
    that I need.

  9. #9
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    I don't like Java. It is slow and made by Sun. Two bad combinations. C# definately wins hands down. Java doesn't even compare. When combined with all the .NET features (which I find are cooler and cooler every day), Java is left even further in the dust. .NET is going to change everything. Java failed because stupid people tried to implement VMs and JIT compiling in a time when 90% of computer users were running 486 machines that were maxed out on mem usage, disk space, and CPU usage after their upgrades from DOS to Win 95. Java did have Swing...at that was a pretty cool idea...but it didn't really get implemented on anything but Sun's package, also Java also doesn't allow pointers and other features that make other languages the required choice for many tasks. However, Microsoft is a lot smarter, has more money, has a better product, and a proven history of writing the best application developement stuff (Visual C++, Visual Basic, etc.), so their product is going to succeed. Visual Studio.NET is one heck of a stinking awesome IDE.

    --Jesse

  10. #10
    Originally posted by JAEzell
    I don't like Java. It is slow and made by Sun. Two bad combinations. C# definately wins hands down. Java doesn't even compare.
    While I don't like Java as well, I find these affirmation a little bit biased. Just because your company decided to go with .NET, this doesn't automatically make it the best stuff around. Java has been deployed several years ago and has several important applications written on it, and like it or not, it has a huge developers following, even if it's more and more used on the backbone of internet application than front ends (Clients).


    When combined with all the .NET features (which I find are cooler and cooler every day), Java is left even further in the dust. .NET is going to change everything. Java failed because stupid people tried to implement VMs and JIT compiling in a time when 90% of computer users were running 486 machines that were maxed out on mem usage, disk space, and CPU usage after their upgrades from DOS to Win 95. Java did have Swing...at that was a pretty cool idea...but it didn't really get implemented on anything but Sun's package, also Java also doesn't allow pointers and other features that make other languages the required choice for many tasks. However, Microsoft is a lot smarter, has more money, has a better product, and a proven history of writing the best application developement stuff (Visual C++, Visual Basic, etc.), so their product is going to succeed. Visual Studio.NET is one heck of a stinking awesome IDE.

    --Jesse
    You are definitively paid by Microsoft to write that stuff. Nothing from Microsoft worked on version one, we always had to wait for the third incarnation before getting something that work, and this apply to ANY product they have released. .NET has potential, but lot of people will wait and see, I work for several big corporations, and no one is jumping on that wagon for at least one year. By the way, the .NET architecture has been designed by the same guy that did the VCL framework for Borland Delphi, Microsoft has been good just at stealing the guy from Borland. And in the end, claiming that Visual Basic is one of the best development tools around must be a typo or a joke.


    Cheers,
    Lev

  11. #11
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    .NET is going to change everything
    Nothing will change with a new set of languages, or a new type of VM/CLR, or a new IDE.

    The web was a big paradigm shift - that changed everything.

    New syntax, garbage collection, better ways to abstract your logic and componentize your applications... these will not change everything.

    I honestly don't know what the next big change will be, but one thing is for certain, it ain't going to be in the programming stratum of the technology food-chain.

    By the way, the .NET architecture has been designed by the same guy that did the VCL framework for Borland Delphi
    Anders Heljsberg was also responsible for Microsoft's Java framework and IDE. (Strange how C# looks exactly like Java plus function pointers and enumerations..)

  12. #12
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    documentation for the SDK

    Hi,
    As much as I'm trilled with what you did, bringing to life that great SDK, I totally agree to one of the previous remarks about the documentation. The lack of documentation makes the use of the SDK like visiting Rome and not being able to see the Pope. Please consider writing the documentation before you get in to this "real cool stuff C#"

  13. #13
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    Java still rules

    A couple years later and my last word on this. After developing in both windows and unix environments for many years, I think a Linux/Java combo still is the best. Java's free, platform independent, with great code being written every day. It's a bit slower than say C for example, but then if you need something very fast just write it in C (not C++!)
    Just check out http://jakarta.apache.org/ - App servers, logging tools, and so much more going on - there for the asking. Microsoft's stuff is too expensive and way too buggy. I remember when I first had to install XP at work. I laughed out load after finding out the "find" command couldn't locate words in most file types that developers search on. Microsoft said this was a "feature". I had to add these file types to the registry just to be able to do my job. So much GUI crap too is particually annoying. Great for your no-techy housewife types or gamers, but not for serious developers. So please, Bill Gates is a bright man, but you will see there is some great talent in the Unix and Java world if you checked it out.

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