The answer is no. I have used Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to build a Melative Scrobbler for Windows users in Visual Basic… The result… It took 2 1/2 days estimated to make a fully functional scrobbler that included music and anime detection and with Visual Basic 2008, it was pretty simple since the syntax is similar to RealBasic and I have used it back in 2006 when I was developing stuff on the same platform, except with a older version of Visual Studio.
The problem lies with people spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Microsoft .NET. MAL Updater go so far and bashing it saying it uses too much memory and requires a user to install a 30 MB .NET Framework on the computer. However, it is not a big drawback at all. Here are some common FUD spread about .NET.
- .NET Uses too much memory! – This is bullshit on top of the gun. With my written application, MelScrobble, it only used around 8 MB – 11 MB on Windows 7, as much used in MAL Lite and also Melative Library, both programs that are not written in .NET, but in RealBasic 2009 which uses native code. Keep in mind that the memory shown in the Task Manager is not the actual memory used in the program since the newer versions of Windows preallocate the memory so that the program will run faster on the fly, just like in Mac OS X and Linux does with memory allocation.
- .NET is bloated and requires one to install a huge .NET framework: Also, another fear tactic used by anti-DOT NET users and is hardly a issue these days. Vista Service Pack 2 and 7 comes with .NET 3.5 preinstalled. The only people that are complaining are the Windows XP users… so just install it… Other programs are going to use it anyways.
- .NET is SLOW and Shitty: No it’s not… It runs just as fast for general purpose application. If you are writing a program that requires native code, you would be using C++ or C, not C# and VB.NET. It is hardly an issue since most people have fast computers and have 2-4 GB memory standard on their computers.
- Lastly, you aren’t developing programs, I am. You shouldn’t dictate to me what I should use or not.
Dot NET is a powerful platform and can also be used in Mono as well, meaning you can use it on Mac OS X, Linux, you name it… not just Windows… so I don’t see what is the fuss with Dot NET…. Not convinced still, I will write MelScrobble in Delphi 7 to prove a point, but believe me… it is not going to be any different from the one written in Visual Basic 2008.
NO U! jk.. On the points.
1) .NET uses a lot of memory, but it's also being used by other things, so it's standalone memory footprint is small (The OS is already going to be running most of the framework at any time anyhow… MS builds stuff in .NET, it's their advantage over JavaVM)
2) Meh… Java is just as huge or larger. Doesn't stop ppl from using it.
3) It's code is rather quick. For normal applications (simple algorithms) C# and just about any other language runs about the same. It's not going to be as fast as hard-compiled application for complex algorithms, but both C# and Java are faster than scripting languages when it comes to stuff like an n-body algorithm.
It also takes less effort to produce with. In the academia, we use C/C++ or Java simply because of the speed and the pureness of code (easier to see the algorithms). In the business world, C/C++ development just doesn't meet the pace of .Net or Java anymore, but the performance is reasonable.
I wouldn't waste your time rewriting it. Personally, I like Py with Qt4 because it's simple, but still quick enough for everyday applications. That said, certain problems are easier soved in other language paradigms, but for plain old desktop apps… it truly doesn't matter so long as it's not eating up half a system's memory (Air) and doesn't take 5 times the effort to develope.
Adobe Air uses a hell alot of memory… so I avoid using AIR (not the anime) apps all together. There is a point in rewriting MAL Client OS X from RealBasic to Objective C since Real Software have been really slow in adopting Cocoa and inorder to take advantage of Cocoa features, you need to pay for expensive third party programs. Also, I think it will benefit from Cocoa since it will load faster and give more of a Mac OS X experience than it is currently (since RealBasic is still using Carbon… and you know what Apple did with Carbon… it's dead in the water.)
Back to my point of languages…. C/C++ or even Objective C produce very fast code, but the problem here is that it is a harder language… You have to know it pretty well and spend time doing memory management with allocating, deallocating, autorelease pools and tall that good stuff. This is the main reason people use Visual Basic and C#, because they are mainly used in RAD (Rapid Application Development) and developers don't have to go through the hoops with memory management since these languages have Garbage Collection (Objective C 2.0 has it to, but it only works on Mac OS X, not the iPhone OS). The point is, no matter what language you use, if the code is sloppy and the program is filled with bugs, this will make the developer look bad. Users of programs tend to bash programing languages because of these problems done by the developer. As long developers produce good code, there should be no reason why users should bash a programing language.
Lastly, there is a reason I choose VB 2008 over Python when I decided to build the Melative Scrobbler in Windows. First off, there isn't really any default interface builder for Python, so it requires a user to install Python plus the interface bindings and stuff, which is not user friendly. The goal was to build a scrobbler which the user can install, launch, set up and use in minutes, and I think I have achieved that goal. Atleast its a good thing that I did not use Adobe AIR, although Adobe products have been sucking alot lately. lol.