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Now that the G1 with Google's Android OS is now available (soon), will the android platform ever support .Net?

Jon Clements
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JarrettV
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13 Answers13

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Update: Since I wrote this answer two years ago, we productized Mono to run on Android. The work included a few steps: porting Mono to Android, integrating it with Visual Studio, building plugins for MonoDevelop on Mac and Windows and exposing the Java Android APIs to .NET languages. This is now available at http://monodroid.net

Mono on Android is based on the Mono 2.10 runtime, and defaults to 4.0 profile with the C# 4.0 compiler and uses Mono's new SGen garbage collection engine, as well as our new distributed garbage collection system that performs GC across Java and Mono.

The links below reflect Mono on Android as of January of 2009, I have kept them for historical context

Mono now works on Android thanks to the work of Koushik Dutta and Marc Crichton.

You can see a video of it running here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/mono-on-android-with-gratuitous-shaky.html

And you can get the instructions to build Mono yourself here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/building-mono-for-android.html

You can get a benchmark comparing Mono's JIT vs Dalvik's interpreter here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/dalvik-vs-mono.html

And of course, you can get a pre-configured image with Mono here (go to the bottom of the post for details on using that): http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/building-mono-for-android.html

miguel.de.icaza
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    Well, I said, not MS nor Google but probably Miguel and here you are ( well I know it wasn't you, but somehow close ) Great links Miguel. Do you think Google would ever support this? I mean they taking the port under their hood? :) If I could I would downvote my own answer :) – OscarRyz Jan 22 '09 at 08:46
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    Uhm, thats "only" running in debian running on the same hardware. Not quite ported to "android" in my opinion, but sounds like its not a big problem to port it completely it seems. – sandos Feb 12 '10 at 07:10
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    I'm wondering, has there been any talk with Google to make this easier to install? Perhaps put it up as a free download from the Market? Allow .Net apps to be put on the market? – csauve Jun 02 '10 at 16:58
  • How a bout an article like mono-project.com/Android ? – abatishchev Aug 30 '10 at 07:35
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    Too bad it doesn't work with Visual Studio Express... – Rockcoder Jun 03 '11 at 12:39
  • Thanks for this update, I have been following this answer since 2010 – Govind Malviya Oct 12 '11 at 10:02
  • But MonoDevelop is license based SDK and cannot be used with VS express.. Is there any free SDK based on .NET ?? – Karan Apr 15 '12 at 07:24
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Yes, it will be possible and it won't be that difficult. All what's needed at this point to start with is some kind of converter that will turn MSIL into Dalvik bytecode. Since both formats are open-sourced and well documented, there won't be any problem with it.

So, writing Android applications in C# or VB.NET will be possible, question is how much of .NET framework standard libraries will be supported. But that's another issue.

Oscar Reyes wrote:

I'm pretty sure if google hand ANY interest in .net, they would've design something while Android was in the first stages, not now when they are in production stages. I don't mean it is not possible, what I'm saying is they're not interested. Maybe in mmm hhhh 10 yrs.

Actually what they've already designed is very compatible with Java and .NET

They can't do everything at once, but if you look into Android SDK, there is a tool called dx. This tool converts Java bytecode into Dalvik bytecode, so in other words, you can run programs written in Java on Android with no effort today. Now the same tool is needed for .NET.

Considering how similar .NET and Java are, it's really a matter of time.

ddimitrov wrote:

The .Net->Java->Dalvik translation can be done even now (http://dev.mainsoft.com/), but I think you underestimate the lack of .Net libraries. Of course somebody can port Mono, but it's definitely a non-trivial effort.

No need to port Mono. Android already has VM and some basic API. All what's needed is CIL->Dalvik converter and tiny .NET wrapper for Android API (and maybe some basic implementation of some standard .NET classes). That's it.

Update: .NET already works on Android - you will need product called Monodroid (http://monodroid.net) as stated above.

lubos hasko
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  • Yes, we never know... perhaps, perhaps... Well make it 4 yrs instead of 10 ... :P – OscarRyz Oct 24 '08 at 04:52
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    I don't agree. Everything you say IS technically possible, but I think you underestimate the work needed by an order of magnitude. It's always easy to put together a proof-of-concept like a crosscompiled hello word in a few hours. But to setup wrappers for all classes is A LOT of work. – Lena Schimmel Jan 07 '09 at 00:36
  • Check out the video that Sirish Kumar has linked to: http://youtube.com/?v=s8nMpi5-P-I It shows how much work is to be done. – Lena Schimmel Jan 07 '09 at 00:40
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    @Brian, video you've posted is about iPhone not Android. – lubos hasko Feb 06 '09 at 05:59
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    Well, given Google's Java affinity it's not too surprising that they *didn't* go for .NET with this. Yes, using Mono might be feasible but I'm almost sure Google would avoid using .NET with similar zeal as Microsoft would avoid using Linux. – Joey Nov 24 '09 at 07:02
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    "small companies aren't going to bet their future on it unless some bigger ones put some weight behind it." Novell already sponsors it. And Microsoft supports the derivative project Moonlight both by providing codecs and test suites. – sblom Dec 27 '09 at 00:59
  • "All what's needed [...] is some kind of converter that will turn MSIL into Dalvik bytecode" - I lol'd. :) – bzlm Dec 04 '10 at 15:35
  • I thought there was already a converter for IL to java byte code. If this is the case and dx can convert java byte code to Dalvik bytecode then according to your statement about just needing a converter, this should already be technically feasible. .NET apps would just have to be compiled to java bytecode and then handed to Android as a java application to be converted by dx. Surely it cannot be this simple. – jpierson Feb 12 '11 at 01:34
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Miguel de Icaza's announced on his blog on the 17th of Feb 2010 that they are starting work on mono for android which will be called MonoDroid.

This will be similar to MonoTouch on the iphone but for android instead.

It will provide binding to the android UI, so apps will look and feel live native android apps. This will require you to write an android specific UI.

You will however be able to reuse you existing lower level libraries without the need to recompile.

trampster
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  • The Monodroid beta is now available to people that signed up for the beta program early. – Damian Aug 26 '10 at 07:33
  • yes it is currently in private beta, which I did sign up for but so far have missed out on an invitation :( – trampster Aug 26 '10 at 10:22
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Since this is one of the first links on Google when search for Android and .net support, it is only fitting to post this here.

The mono project is working on a SDK to develop Android applications using CIL languages such as C#. The down side is it will be a commercial product. monodroid

Praveenkumar
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Tony
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8

There is Mono for Android, the .NET framework ported for Android. And there is MonoDroid, a development stack for using C# and the core .NET APIs to develop Android-based applications. MonoDroid Preview 1 has been released a couple of days ago.

MonoDroid
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MonoDroid is awailable for preview. I think that will bridge the gap. However, MonoDroid could be a costly option for development. Their other development tools costs anywhere between $199 and $4000 (The MonoTouch .. iPhone dev tool ... is priced between $399 and $3999). If people develop apps with these tools, they need a very strong business model to see some returns.

GSree
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Check this out xmlvm I think this is possible. May be can also check this video

Praveenkumar
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Sirish
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  • I like that answers. It shows that it is possible, but if you watch that video, it also shows how many problems are still open to solve and how much work is behind all that. – Lena Schimmel Jan 07 '09 at 00:39
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.NET and Mono are great environments, with many tools and and excellent skills base of people who know how to use them.

I think Mono has the opportunity to be the mobile cross-platform development environment of choice, seeing as they are the only alternative to Objective-C on the iPhone and should be portable to Android, and .NET is already on Windows Mobile.

I'm really hoping to see a solid implementation of Mono on Android, with wrappers for the Android API as with Monotouch, and would be prepared to pay for it since I'm not in a position to do it myself.

Peter
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A modified port of Mono is also entirely possible.

akdom
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  • @akdom, do you have experience with porting of software from desktop/server OS to embedded? I have some mobile development experience (Java and Brew) and IMHO, you are grossly underestimating the effort. It might be possible, but deffinitely not in the next 3 years. – ddimitrov Oct 18 '08 at 07:04
  • @ddmitrov: The question was whether the android platform with EVER support .NET, not whether it will within the next three years. I was merely positing that since Mono is an open source implementation of .NET it would be easier to construct an android version of Mono than to start from scratch. – akdom Oct 18 '08 at 18:14
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    It did not take three years in the end. And the folks at Xamarin plan to do it again in less than six months. – Justin May 21 '11 at 12:08
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.NET compact framework has been ported to Symbian OS (http://www.redfivelabs.com/). If .NET as a 'closed' platform can be ported to this platform, I can't see any reason why it cannot be done for Android.

KevinD
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  • Have you used the compact framework? I do every day at my work and a mono port in the form of MonoDroid will be heaps better. – trampster Mar 04 '10 at 23:19
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You're more likely to see an Android implementation of Silverlight. Microsoft rep has confirmed that it's possible, vs. the iPhone where the rep said it was problematic.

But a version of the .Net framework is possible. Just need someone to care about it that much :)

But really, moving from C# to Java isn't that big of a deal and considering the drastic differences between the two platforms (PC vs. G1) it seems unlikely that you'd be able to get by with one codebase for any app that you wanted to run on both.

jcollum
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In my opinion, it would be technically possible to convert the CLI Bytecode to Dalvik, and to write wrapper classes for some core features such as Collections, File access, etc., even it would be hard work.

But a .NET desktop application ran on android would feel alien, as it would have a classic Windows-Like GUI which is not very usable on a touch device. If, on the other hand, you were to code an android-like GUI in .NET, you would need another set of wrappers (notice that wrapping is just the other way round opposed to the wrappers mentioned above).

I'm not sure if a .NET mobile application would feel native on android, but I'd guess it wouldn't.

Maybe you're interestend in another approach: You can write your application in the Java language. You can then compile it to .NET via Microsoft J# (I know it's discontinued but you can still download and use it) and use the same Java code on android. Again, that's for the core classes aka business logic and again you would have to write tow GUIs. Maybe you can tages J2ME as well, which you will not be able to do if you use .NET.

Lena Schimmel
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  • no it wouldn't your are assuming that win forms would be ported, which is a really bad idea, MonoDroid will have bindings to the android UI widgets, so it will look exactly like a native android app, the user need not even know it is running on MonoDroid – trampster Mar 04 '10 at 23:13
  • Also a CLI Bytecode to Dalvik is a bad idea, the mono runtime and VM already work on ARM, making it run on android will not be a problem. And seeing as mono is JIT compiled and Dalvik is interpreted. Running on the mono runtime will be much faster. – trampster Mar 04 '10 at 23:17
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.NET for Android seems like a real possibility to me. There is news that Microsoft will release proper Silverlight for Android- Never underestimate the advantages to Microsoft for putting the boot into Apple. A smartphone that is faster, more feature rich, faster development lifecycle, impressive hardware, Flash & Silverlight as a standard installable.

Microsoft has a vested interest in improving Android, and at the same time, applications will be devloped for Silverlight on Android will also work on Windows Phone 7 OS with multi-touch, GPS, etc., etc.

David Basarab
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Mark
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