My Information Technology course has a module named “Developing Web Applications”, where, for the sake of exposure to the MS .net platform, and other reasons, students have to learn how to do server-side programming with ASP.Net.
Personally, I would rather use open-source languages and frameworks, such as Perl, Ruby on Rails or Django, so as to avoid vendor-lock-in by MS, and also because of ideological reasons. However, without much of a choice, I sought a way to avoid using Windows and Visual Studio to develop ASP.Net apps. My search led me to Mono, an open-source implementation of ASP.Net.
This site contains much more information on how to get through the module without having to use too much of Windows.
I would also like to thank <reverseblade> on ##mono at irc.freenode.org, for the following tips:
[17:11] <kohwj> hi, if i have an asp.net app written in vb.net, and it makes some sql calls to a microsoft sql server, can this app be run, without modificaiton, on mono and apache?
[17:12] <reverseblade> kohwj, not sure about vb.net
[17:12] <reverseblade> but if you use C# ,yes
[17:13] <kohwj> reverseblade: i’m not familiar with sql, but im assuming that mysql is the db used?
[17:14] <reverseblade> as long as you have the necessary driver
[17:14] <reverseblade> you can work with any db
[17:14] <reverseblade> and I am sure, asp.net + mono +linux + mysql is a working combo
[17:14] <reverseblade> if you have a correct setup of course
[17:14] <kohwj> reverseblade: thank you! my school can’t make me use windows now =)
[17:16] <reverseblade> kohwj, yeah but as said I am not sure about the VB.NET support. But I have developed a fairly large and a professional Web application with
[17:16] <reverseblade> asp.net + mono + linux + postgres
[17:16] <reverseblade> and ported it to windows
[17:16] <reverseblade> it’s a commercial application of course
[17:17] <kohwj> i think vb.net should work, i did ask around here once about vb.net in mono and asp
[17:17] <reverseblade> kohwj, if you have choice , use postgres instead of mysql
[17:17] <reverseblade> it is better and works better with mono
[17:17] <kohwj> reverseblade: cool
[17:17] <kohwj> reverseblade: but if the app is simple, no code changes are needed, right?
[17:18] <reverseblade> minority changes might be needed
[17:18] <reverseblade> on aspx code
[17:18] <reverseblade> not the compiled dlls
[17:18] <reverseblade> sometimes, mono asp.net is more forgiving that MS asp.net
[17:18] <kohwj> oh
[17:18] <kohwj> i
[17:18] <reverseblade> but should take few minutes of yours
[17:19] <kohwj> i’ll test on both, then. luckily i won’t need to spend much time on windows =)
[17:19] <reverseblade> if you test it on both platforms I am sure you’ll be fine
[17:19] <reverseblade> yeah
[17:19] <kohwj> thanks for the info!
2 responses so far ↓
fgb // January 23, 2008 at 5:17 am
DWA is very simple. Its mostly just reading the guide and editing the source that is given to you to make sure the effect is replicated. Most of the time it should just work upon editing of the code.
Helps to test on your friend’s laptop as well. Just be careful about setting up permissions and what not so that your entire ASP.Net project folder will work.
Michaelk // January 23, 2008 at 5:27 am
fgb,
Yep, testing, testing and more testing is the key.
I’ll set up my VMWare WinXP image to run apps I build with Mono, to avoid rebooting.
Cheers =)