Mono

Compatibility with different platforms is a legitimate concern when developing applications. Based on Microsoft's successful .NET Framework, Mono offers an excellent infrastructure for application development. It supports numerous programming languages and it implements ECMA standards for C# and the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). What's more, Mono is offered as an open source framework, which means that you can add your own code and contribute to the project.

It takes about a minute to install Mono on your machine. Although you have to follow a wizard's instructions, instead of clicking and dragging an icon, the installation procedure is trivial. Once it is up and running on your computer, you can start writing your applications without delay, though you may want to run a quick "Hello World" program first, to make sure everything is working properly.

Mono has numerous advantages to offer. For example, its automatic memory management, reflection, generics and threading capabilities allow you to focus on writing an actual application, rather than system infrastructure code. Also, the platform comes with a built-in class library, which relieves you from writing your own socket code or hashtables. Another advantage is the fact that Mono's Common Language Runtime (CLR) allows you to work in your preferred programming language, because it can interoperate with other CLR languages. In other words, you can, for example, inherit from a C# class in VB.Net and use it in Eiffel.

Mono is designed to be cross platform. Besides its Mac OS X version, you can also find it for Windows and Linux as well. Furthermore, the applications you create with Mono can be used on virtually any type of computer and on various mobile platforms and gaming consoles.