4 ms·

C# has had a command line compiler since... forever. Is the big news just --native mode?

enricosada 11y ago
the --native already exists, it's not a dotnet cli thing dotnet is a wrapper ( like git command ) for multiple executable, to replace msbuild as project file + build tool and add some new functionalities ( restore nuget packages, etc ) i think the real news is having a dumb project.json (nuget deps,source files,etc) and a xplat tool ( dotnet ) who read this project.json, and can restore packages, compile ( --native too ), publish, packages as another nuget package, etc. All that xplat and multiple language. c# works, F# got merged last week, other coming next. Some example commands: - `dotnet new` scaffold a new project ( really simple atm ) - `dotnet restore` read dependencies from the project.json and download nuget packages - `dotnet compile` call the csc compiler ( with a wrapper `dotnet-compile-csc` ) with source files, defines, references from project.json, etc There is a good split of responsabilities, you can call dotnet-compile-csc if you want. dotnet cli bundle the roslyn compiler ( c#, vb ) and f# compiler, so ready to go for example `dotnet compile`. dotnet compile read project.json and call ( for c# ) the `dotnet-compile-csc` passing source list, defines, references, etc. dotnet-compile-csc doenst know about project.json, and call csc ( the c# compiler ). if --native, the `dotnet compile` then call a compiler from .net bytecode to native code It's more like a replacement for msbuild, with a really good command line story, and a common project file ( project.json ) who can be used from visual studio or vs code, or others ide ( it's a json file, dumb )
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  Completely off topic but I think I saw some of your work in the F# repo being merged upstream. Congratulations if I'm not confusing you with someone else!
  - enricosada 11y ago
    thx
- nmeofthestate 11y ago
  Thanks for your comments here - really explained what this thing is. I didn't pick up on that from the blog post.
- abrodersen 11y ago
  Like another commenter said, thank you for all your work on getting F# into dotnet core!
darklajid 11y ago
The command line compiler didn't include dependency management, project creation etc.?
- mattmanser 11y ago
  If you're going to build via cli, you'll already be using 'nuget restore'[1] as part of a bat file or whatever in your build. And you'd have to be pretty belligerent of VS to use a cli to create a .Net project instead of clicking 'File > New > Project...'. Although the amount of crap they add in to a asp.net project these days is phenomenal. You spend 20 minutes deleting all the junk they've added. It just seems to be a simplification. In all honesty the article doesn't actually say anything really about why we should use it. [1] https://docs.nuget.org/consume/command-line-reference#restore-command https://docs.nuget.org/consume/command-line-reference#restor...
  - darklajid 11y ago
    No, the article makes that rather clear: You don't have VS on other platforms. This is a cli interface for every supported OS/platform, while you had to use msbuild/xbuild previously (and a couple of things on top, nuget being one). Obviously you can do everything .Net related already - if you're sitting in VS on Windows.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- chiph 11y ago
  csc.exe did not. In ye olde days, you'd have to use nmake or similar (batch files - gahh!) to manage compiling applications that had multiple source files.

the --native already exists, it's not a dotnet cli thing dotnet is a wrapper ( like git command ) for multiple executable, to replace msbuild as project file + build tool and add some new functionalities ( restore nuget packages, etc ) i think the real news is having a dumb project.json (nuget deps,source files,etc) and a xplat tool ( dotnet ) who read this project.json, and can restore packages, compile ( --native too ), publish, packages as another nuget package, etc. All that xplat and multiple language. c# works, F# got merged last week, other coming next. Some example commands: - `dotnet new` scaffold a new project ( really simple atm ) - `dotnet restore` read dependencies from the project.json and download nuget packages - `dotnet compile` call the csc compiler ( with a wrapper `dotnet-compile-csc` ) with source files, defines, references from project.json, etc There is a good split of responsabilities, you can call dotnet-compile-csc if you want. dotnet cli bundle the roslyn compiler ( c#, vb ) and f# compiler, so ready to go for example `dotnet compile`. dotnet compile read project.json and call ( for c# ) the `dotnet-compile-csc` passing source list, defines, references, etc. dotnet-compile-csc doenst know about project.json, and call csc ( the c# compiler ). if --native, the `dotnet compile` then call a compiler from .net bytecode to native code It's more like a replacement for msbuild, with a really good command line story, and a common project file ( project.json ) who can be used from visual studio or vs code, or others ide ( it's a json file, dumb )

iheartmemcache 11y ago
Completely off topic but I think I saw some of your work in the F# repo being merged upstream. Congratulations if I'm not confusing you with someone else!
- enricosada 11y ago
  thx
nmeofthestate 11y ago
Thanks for your comments here - really explained what this thing is. I didn't pick up on that from the blog post.
abrodersen 11y ago
Like another commenter said, thank you for all your work on getting F# into dotnet core!

darklajid 11y ago

The command line compiler didn't include dependency management, project creation etc.?

mattmanser 11y ago
If you're going to build via cli, you'll already be using 'nuget restore'[1] as part of a bat file or whatever in your build. And you'd have to be pretty belligerent of VS to use a cli to create a .Net project instead of clicking 'File > New > Project...'. Although the amount of crap they add in to a asp.net project these days is phenomenal. You spend 20 minutes deleting all the junk they've added. It just seems to be a simplification. In all honesty the article doesn't actually say anything really about why we should use it. [1] https://docs.nuget.org/consume/command-line-reference#restore-command https://docs.nuget.org/consume/command-line-reference#restor...
- darklajid 11y ago
  No, the article makes that rather clear: You don't have VS on other platforms. This is a cli interface for every supported OS/platform, while you had to use msbuild/xbuild previously (and a couple of things on top, nuget being one). Obviously you can do everything .Net related already - if you're sitting in VS on Windows.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
chiph 11y ago
csc.exe did not. In ye olde days, you'd have to use nmake or similar (batch files - gahh!) to manage compiling applications that had multiple source files.