RoboVM Acquired

Off-Topic
1

Xamarin has used some of its VC money to buy a cross-platform mobile company called RoboVM which makes a Java development system. See this: PR release

I imagine that there are quite a few Java developers who would use RoboVM to port their apps to iOS, though the RoboVM website has an unimpressive Alexa Rank. Like Xojo, it uses the LLVM compiler to produce native code.

I wonder if Xamarin has more acquisitions in mind. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED! :slight_smile: Maybe they will make an offer for Xojo, Inc. Xamarin can’t do web apps and I’ll bet they would love to have Xojo’s web technology. In any case, as much as I complain about Xojo, I definitely don’t want to see the company sold.

2

I can see the headlines “Xamarin buys XOJO… Developers flee in droves”

3

…Xojo Engineers flee in droves… :stuck_out_tongue:

4

When Macromedia bought Altsys who produced my work tool Fontographer in 1995, they plunged it into deep coma until FontLab bought the distribution rights and resumed development in 2005. I thought it was dead for good.

I do hope none of those sharks ever gobbles my favorite development platform. It would most probably become a situation la VB6.

5

Yes, you need to install Java if you want to develop in C# with Xamarin.

Isn’t it strange ?

6

[quote=223203:@Emile Schwarz]Yes, you need to install Java if you want to develop in C# with Xamarin.

Isn’t it strange ?[/quote]
Eurgh! I thought Java was pretty much dead, at the very least it’s as secure as flash.

8

It’s apparently popular, first in the Tiobe Index http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

That said, all iterations of C, C++, C# combined are way before.

9

Aren’t most of the top 10 interpreted stuff ?
(Python, PHP, Â…)

10

[quote=223258:@Emile Schwarz]Aren’t most of the top 10 interpreted stuff ?
(Python, PHP, Â…)[/quote]

What is your point ?

11

interpreted vs compiled and todayÂ’s trend to talk about Programming in html (that always gaves me a smileÂ…)

12

If there is a trend, it is the use of scripts online (php, perl, javaScript, etc.) and compiled on Desktop (Java, C, C++, C#, VB. NET, Objective-C, etc…).

I would not discount HTML just yet as a programming language. It may be difficult to understand for anyone not versed in Web presence, but indeed CSS and HTML5 are, IMHO, rather powerful, even if difficult to comprehend for someone who is somewhat into procedural programming.

13

Doesn’t the HTML5 specification include the APIs? The term HTML5 is now widely used as shorthand for HTML5+CSS+JS anyway.

14

Indeed HTML5 includes properties that call JS directly.

15

[quote=223178:@Michel Bujardet]
I do hope none of those sharks ever gobbles my favorite development platform. It would most probably become a situation Ă  la VB6.[/quote]

Well, since Xojo is a private company it can’t be bought unless Geoff (who I assume is the majority shareholder) agrees to sell it. If he has the same attitude as a friend of mine, it will never be sold. My friend always says he tells people whenever he receives an offer to sell his business: 'If you want to buy my company, take your offer and add two zeros to it." Basically, it becomes an infinite loop… :slight_smile:

16

Does Xojo have more than one drove of engineers?

“THE drove of engineers has fled”

17

[quote=223203:@Emile Schwarz]Yes, you need to install Java if you want to develop in C# with Xamarin.
Isn’t it strange ?[/quote]

Haha indeed, you made my day with this :wink:

18 
  
  while ImStillAlive
    
    offer = offer * 100.0
    
  wend
  
  disburseToHeirs( accept(offer) )