Would an automatic MSIL to JavaScript conversion be useful?

Question

I've been working on a project called Axial that converts MSIL (compiled C# or VB.NET) to JavaScript. There are a few samples of working code, but some common situations don't work properly. (The current release doesn't work in production mode and the SVN code doesn't work in debug mode but is much cleaner.) I've heard from quite a few people that they hate writing JavaScript, so I know the project has some merit, but I'd guess that attitude is less prevalent among the SO community.

Assume the product works perfectly and smoothly, so your JavaScript works 100% of the time and a Visual Studio plug-in makes sure you're using the product correctly. Is this something you or your organization would use? What features other than straight code translation would interest you?

Answer 1

That sounds very much like a .NET-centric version of GWT. I guess the questions are:

• Have I understood the purpose correctly?
• Do you believe you can overcome any roadblocks that GWT users might stumble over?
• Is there enough benefit in having a .NET version as well as GWT to make the duplication of effort worthwhile? (I'd personally just write the Java code and use GWT, but I know not all .NET developers know Java, and you may already have common library stuff you want to port.)
• Do you have any useful ideas you could contribute to GWT? :)

(Disclaimer: I work for Google, but haven't used GWT myself.)

Answer 2

Been done (pretty much).