C# Is just “SO Last Year”

Most readers of this humble blog will be very aware of my personal opinion about Mono and specifically with regards to where it should belong in Ubuntu.

Free and Open Source Software projects are built using a wide variety of programming languages. Blackduck who study this kind of thing have released some interesting data regarding the use of various languages to develop FOSS applications.

C# (the language of choice for Mono advocates) is languishing in 10th place behind Perl, Python, PHP, Java and many not insignificant others.

FOSS Language use

FOSS Language use

And is doesn’t appear to be growing by anything other than what looks like a statistical anomaly.

Mono Growth

Mono Growth

If one were to listen to some proponents of Mono/C# you might have been led to think that (to be read in a really deep voice like the old Carlsberg ads):

“Someday, all software will be written this way”

Yeah right.

My other foot has bells on it…

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9 Comments

  • You forgot to note that the about totality of open source c# applications is written for Windows on .net and not for Mono/linux.
    Also let’s forget for a moment the cross-platform rap. How many .net apps did you see ported from windows ? (apart paint.net that doesn’t seem that good)

    Here we go again, illustrious mono advocates explaining why mono is so much loved by developers. And here we go again, here’s the list of Mono apps in the ubuntu repositories:
    $ apt-cache rdepends mono-runtime | grep -v mono

    Take the list and strip examples and libraries. Then strip worthless apps. Then count. That’s the result of 8 years of Mono.

  • stlouisubntu says:

    Alan, what are your thoughts on the Chicken Little Remix, put out by Mono developer Jo Shields, which is Ubuntu 9.04 with mono removed.

    http://www2.apebox.org/wordpress/rants/163/

    Surely you are aware of it.

    • Alan Lord says:

      @stlouisubntu

      Yes, I had seen Jo’s remix already. It’s a good start and I hope that someone will pick it up and run with it. It is however (IMHO) easier to remove Mono from a default Ubuntu desktop install and it certainly requires infrastructure/maintenance/support etc than maintaining an entire a distro:

      sudo apt-get purge libmono0 mono-common libgdiplus

      That’s it.

      Oh yeah, you can also remove some files which are mistakenly left over in /usr/lib/mono if you feel the need.

  • openmage says:

    A respin is fine to not get mono out of the box, but no thanks I”d rather Ubuntu themselves comply because they are the ones causing the problems, and they should fix it and be responsible for their actions like the rest of us are. But since they default to gnome, and we know gnome is in bed with mono with tomboy and who knows what is coming next, then I see little reason to trust them going forward.

    I want to see them own up to this and fix it, simple as that.

    Which is why Ill not use Ubuntu , until they do.

    I find fedora much more agreeable anyway , as at least their forums are legitimate and dont try
    to squelch debate.

    Given the patent “Agreement’ novel made with MIcrosoft , and MIcrosoft’s current and past ‘history’ with ooXML, tomtom and other scandalous issues with other organizations and buyouts, why on earth are we even talking about this I’d like to know..oh wait I know I know…MONEY talks BS walks ?

    If you are that in love with MIcrosoft and its products that you would use their products knowing they are using patent violations from a company that hates us ,and what we do as they ‘see’ us atm as direct competition to their ( and their employees/users) bottom line, then you either flat are simply unaware and should educate yourself on these matters very soon, or your reasoning is far more agregious and linked to MIcrosoft themselves. If so thats fine, but dont expect the rest of us to sit idly by while you try to bring linux down, it wont happen.

    For you who dont seem to care about linux there is ubuntu, gnome and tomboy etal, and for the rest of us who truly care about linux’s future we’ll use something else; thanks just the same but no thanks ubuntu/gnome.

    oh btw..does stargate universe really work in moonlight, I hear it doesn’t from a few friends but I can’t verify as I dont have linux installed currently. If not I think thats outrageous, than fans that simply choose the open and free linux OS, are left out in the cold.

    peace out.

  • […] for the attenuation. I do wonder if Mono might just simply be losing some of its lustre. In August Blackduck reported how the amount of code being written for FOSS projects using C# was pretty negligible at just 1.33% […]

  • Chris B says:

    Well duh, the Mono framework isn’t included by default.

    Who’s going to code for something that isn’t there? C is there and has been since Unix, so it’s always going to be there. C# is only on builds where people have installed it themselves, and given the vitriole leveled by you lot against anyone who does have it isntalled, that leaves C# developers only.

    Oh, and weren’t there some comments about having developers using C# to be kicked from all FOSS projects? My eyes could be fooling me, entire pages of hate could really be an illusion.

  • Chris B says:

    Sorry, I think I ranted again. :S

    It’s not that I’m against you people personally, it’s that you take a cause and effect then use the effect to justify another cause entirely. Like.. How does that work?

  • Ben says:

    At least C# is doing better than Linux 🙂

    Well since 40% of the Open source is C it shows 2 things

    1 Most open source is libraries and kernel .
    2 Almost no new program in the last 15 years is written in C it shows that the majority of open source is just 1970-90 relic code being maintained. Emacs and Vi are still there counting as lines and nano isnt a big gain.

    As .NET /mono provides all the libraries you need it is no surprise that the amount of C# code is small. In addition C# code probably uses half the lines of C or less.

    If open source is to be important it needs to show that
    – It can undertake major fundamental changes and not just evolve earlier ideas. [ It is terrible here] . The major dev gains Java and .NET were big companies that released the standards to open source.
    – It can form standards ( and not just via comitee CSS & WS- are abysmal but by being accepted) [It is doing a better job here]
    – It supports the dominant desktop ( and this is easier via mono that huge makefile configure monsters for win32 or via yuck cygwin ( which no one uses) )

    • Alan Lord says:

      Better late than never I guess 😉 This post is almost a year old.

      However, looking at the most recent Black Duck numbers C#’s importance appears to be in decline so whatever your personal opinion, it would seem that the rest of the world isn’t of the same viewpoint.

      Thanks for commenting.

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