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Part 8: Appendixes

This final part of this book examines two important topics, which quite frankly did not seem to fit

naturally within the bulk of the text, and have therefore been “appendix-ized.” Here you will com-

plete your examination of C# and the .NET platform by learning how to integrate legacy code into

your .NET applications as well as how to take .NET development beyond the Windows family of

operating systems.

Appendix A: COM and .NET Interoperability

If you have programmed the Windows operating system prior to using .NET, you are most likely

aware of the Component Object Model (COM). While COM and .NET have nothing to do with each

other (beyond the fact that they each originated from Microsoft), the .NET platform has an entire

namespace (System.Runtime.InteropServices) that makes it possible for .NET software to make use

of legacy COM components and vice versa. This appendix will examine the interoperability layer in

quite a bit of detail, as this topic is quite important when looking for ways to leverage your existing

code base as you build new .NET applications.

Appendix B: Platform-Independent .NET Development with Mono

Last but not least, Appendix B covers the use of an open source implementation of the .NET plat-

form named 

Mono. Using Mono, it is possible to build feature-rich .NET applications that can be

created, deployed, and executed upon a variety of operating systems, including Mac OS X, Solaris,

AIX, and numerous Linux distributions. Given that Mono is largely comparable with Microsoft’s

.NET platform, you already know most of what Mono has to offer. Therefore, this appendix will

focus on the Mono installation process, Mono development tools, and Mono runtime engine.