Questions about .NET and Xenocode Postbuild

Question

Referring to this topic (and accepted answer).

Isn't .NET Windows only (except for emulators)? How will using Xenocode Postbuild affect the portability of the application? Will compiling my application using Xenocode Postbuild affect the size/speed of it? Which way?

Generally: What are the differences/advantages/disadvantages of the VS.NET compilation vs. the native binary from the Xenocode compilation?

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A question to the "free trial"-function inside Xenocode; I can't get it to work; I fill in my e-mail etc, but when I click the button, nothing happens, and after some time the programs freezes and crashes. It looks like it's trying to connect to a server, but fail, or something. Does anybody know why? Is there any other way to try Xenocode Postbuild for free?

Answer 1

.NET is not necessarily Windows-only, since you can run a .NET app in linux with mono (it's not an emulator, it's an implementation of the .NET framework itself. It surprises me too, but Microsoft made the .NET spec public)

The compilation VS uses is basically turning legible code into binary code. It's an "Intermediate Language", hence very easy to dissassemble or modify. It's sort of an interpreted language, it requires something to read it (the .NET). Then it turns it into CPU instructions on the fly. Of course, this consumes CPU and has a footprint. So probably pre-compiling it instead of just-in-time compiling it is better, but I didn't try Xenocode to be sure :D

As advantages go, I would say:

• NO FRAMEWORK TO INSTALL (biiiiig advantage to me)
• Much harder to hack (your work is safer, and less prone to exploits)
• Faster load time (I wouldn't count with actually faster controls, however)
• Smaller memory footprint (I believe it would go down by half or more, but I'm not sure)

I'm willing to try it out soon-ish, but those are my $0.02

:D