Net60, a .NET Compact Framework for Symbian, provides true cross platform portability for .NET applications running on Windows Mobile devices to devices powered by the Symbian OS. Benefits which the .NET platform for Symbian offers developers includes being able to:
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Leverage your .NET investment
Together with code base and skill set re-use, developing mobile applications in a managed runtime environment has never been easier (and more productive!).
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Write great mobile applications, fast!
The powerful class libraries which ship with the framework further enable one to focus on solving problems at high levels of abstraction (or application domain) whilst avoiding the typical, low level quagmire of Symbian's internal plumbing and C++ idioms.
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Target a stable platform
The .NET Compact Framework is covered by an ISO / ECMA standard, and changes infrequently compared to the Symbian OS and S60 user interface release cycles. Therefore, developing against the Compact Framework ensures less frequent rewrites or modifications to your code base.
How does it work?
The architectural overview diagram below illustrates the 'virtual machine' like middleware layer that the Red Five Labs .NET Compact Framework represents. High level languages such as C# and VB.NET can be used to write mobile .NET applications. These .NET CF applications 'run' on top of Red Five framework which in turn resides on top of the Symbian OS.
Simplified Architecture
.NET CF applications are compiled to Intermediate Language code by language compilers such as those included in the Microsoft Visual Studio suite of IDE's. Similar to the intermediate step performed by the Java Virtual Machine, the Red Five Labs .NET Compact Framework just-in-time compiles the Intermediate Language (IL) code into Symbian OS native code (supporting the ARM architecture based microprocessor) for on device execution.
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