2.1. Development Tools

2.1.1. About Software Development Kits (SDKs)

A software development kit (SDK) is a set of tools for developing in a particular programming language (in our class, C#). Developing in a language means everything from compiling to running and (when things go wrong) to debugging programs.

The Microsoft SDK is the proprietary implementation of .Net. It runs only on Windows and is the primary development framework for all things Microsoft.

The Mono Project SDK <http://mono-project.com> is the free/open source equivalent implementation of the Microsoft SDK. It runs on all major platforms (including Windows) and is needed in situations where you want to develop .Net applications on non-Windows platforms.

As an interesting aside, the company whose developers lead the work on the Mono SDK are working on commercial tools that allow you to develop/run applications written in .Net on Apple iOS and Android mobile devices (phones and tablets).

2.1.2. About Integrated Development Environments (IDE)

While just about everything you need to create programs can, indeed, be found in the SDK, it is not long before you wish there were an “app for that” so to speak. While most programmers who developed code (like your instructors) in the 1970s-1990s learned to program directly with the SDK using the command line, today’s programmers largely to prefer working in an IDE.

There are two major IDEs for .Net development, which we explain briefly below:

• Visual Studio is the Microsoft IDE that interfaces directly to the Microsoft SDK.
• MonoDevelop is the free/open source IDE for developing applications using the Mono SDK on Windows and all other platforms (in particular, Linux and OS X).

In addition, there is another Windows-specific IDE, SharpDevelop, that inspired the creation of MonoDevelop. It is still actively maintained and provides a somewhat “lighter weight” alternative to Visual Studio for Windows users. Like MonoDevelop, it is aimed at developers who would prefer a more free/open source “friendly” version.

2.1.3. Our Approach

In the interest of providing a consistent experience for our students, we will be using Mono (the SDK) and MonoDevelop (the IDE) for everything we demonstrate in class. We will also be encouraging you to use it for your work, especially if you are interested in non-Microsoft platforms.

Our notes assume for the most part that you are working with Mono and MonoDevelop. In most cases, what we are showing you in Mono and MonoDevelop will translate almost as is to the Microsoft equivalents. However, there are some tools, such as the csharp interpreter, that have a rough analog in Microsoft’s tools but in a somewhat limited form. As there is significant evolution of both the Microsoft and Mono toolchains–a fancy word we want you to know and a more elegant way of saying SDK–we’ll issue updates to these notes.

2.1.4. Installing Mono

Because the Mono Project web page is known to change frequently, these instructions are designed to be as generic as possible. If you have any questions, you should contact the instructors immediately or seek tutoring help.

2.1.5. OS X

1. Go to <http://mono-project.com>.
2. Look for the Mono downloads link. You want to get the latest stable version of Mono for OS X. For this class, you need version 2.10 or later.
3. You may see a link to download Runtime or SDK. Make sure you select SDK.
4. For OS X, the SDK is distributed as a DMG disk image. You’ll need to download this image and double-click it. Open the image and run the installer. Administrative privileges are required to run the installer, so if you do not know this information, please stop here.
5. Once installation is completed, you have everything needed to start using the IDE, MonoDevelop.
6. Now go to <http://mono-develop.com>.
7. As with Mono, we need to look for the downloads link. You should download the stable version.
8. As with Mono, you will see a DMG file, which you should download and double-click to mount on your desktop.
9. This time, you will see an App for MonoDevelop, which you can drag and drop into the Applications folder.

Here is how to do a quick sanity check of your Mono setup:

1. Go to Applications -> Utilities and launch the Terminal application. (Terminal is how you get to a command-line shell in OS X.)
2. You’ll see a prompt that looks like this computername:folder user$. This means that Terminal is ready for input.
3. Type which csharp and hit enter/return. You should see /usr/bin/csharp as output. csharp is the C# interpreter.
4. Type which dmcs and hit enter/return. You should see /usr/bin/dmcs as output. dmcs is one of the interfaces to the C# compiler.
5. If the two preceding steps were successful, you can launch MonoDevelop by double-clicking the icon in your Applications folder. (You won’t know what to do with it yet, but at least you can verify that it launches correctly and then use Command-Q to exit.)

2.1.6. Windows

1. Go to <http://mono-project.com>.
2. Look for the Mono downloads link. You want to get the latest stable version of Mono for Windows. For this class, you need version 2.10 or later.
3. You may see a link to download Runtime or SDK. Make sure you select SDK.
4. For Windows, there is only one option to download the SDK. It is a self-extracting executable, so you will need to double click it to install. For Vista and 7 users, you may need to check your taskbar to see whether the installer is being held up by Microsoft’s enhanced security, UAM, that makes sure you really want to install something you downloaded from the internet.
5. Once installation is completed, you have everything needed to start using the IDE, MonoDevelop.
6. Now go to <http://mono-develop.com>.
7. As with Mono, we need to look for the downloads link. You should download the stable version.
8. As with Mono, you will see a self-extracting installer, which you should run as before.

Here is how to do a quick sanity check of your Mono setup:

1. Open the Start Menu and type “mono” in the text field at the bottom. You should see a short list places “mono” appears.
2. Click on the choice that says “Mono 2.10... Command prompt”. If it comes up, you are all set. Close the window, or save it for later use.... You can also find the program in the Start Menu manually, finding the Mono folder, expanding it, and clicking on] the Mono Command Prompt.
3. If the two preceding steps were successful, you can launch MonoDevelop by double-clicking the icon in your Applications folder. (You won’t know what to do with it yet, but at least you can verify that it launches correctly and then close the window. Ctrl-Q is a shortcut.)

2.1.7. Linux

We only provide instructions for Debian-based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.

1. Using the command-line apt-get tool, you can install everything that you need using apt-get install monodevelop. This should be run as the root user (using the sudo command).
2. You can test the sanity of your setup by following the instructions under OS X.

MonoDevelop releases on Linux tend to lag behind the official stable release.

This page, https://launchpad.net/~keks9n/+archive/monodevelop-latest,

describes how to update your MonoDevelop setup if it is not version 2.8 or later as we’ll need for this course.

We wish to stress that Linux is recommended for students who already have a bit of programming experience under their belts. It can take a significant amount of energy to get a Linux setup up and running and to tweak it to your liking. While it has gotten ever so much easier since the 1990s when it first appeared, we encourage you to set it up perhaps a bit later in the semester or consider running it using virtualization software (on Mac or Windows) such as VirtualBox or VMware.