.NET heading to Android in the form of MonoDroid

MonoTouch, the open-source project that allows you to build native iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad applications in .NET code, is about to make its debut on the Android platform as MonoDroid.

MonoDroid is expected to reach its release-ready version in the autumn, just in time for Windows Phone 7’s release on October 7th, and is about to start its beta testing phase.

MonoDroid comes from a long legacy of .NET ports, starting with the Mono project. This allowed .NET code to be compiled for and run on Linux and Unix platforms such as OS X. This was then followed by MonoTouch, which is capable of running the same code on Apple’s mobile device ranges.

The announcement will be good news to developers looking to build applications for the Windows Phone 7 platform, as it allows them to port their business logic to operate on not only Microsoft devices, but those built by Apple and those running Android too. While the rendering scripts will need to be modified to suite the style and nuances of each platform, simply being able to bring across the libraries and logic code will save developers a considerable amount of time. On top of this, the familiar development environment in Visual Studio can be used by the way of plugins, further increasing time savings.

Look out for more news on MonoDroid in the coming few weeks.

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