Microsoft Previews Compiler-as-a-Service Software 171
angry tapir writes "Microsoft will release a Community Technology Preview of a new type of compiler its researchers have been building — code-named Project Roslyn — a company executive announced Thursday. Roslyn is a compiler for C# and Visual Basic with a set of APIs that developers can use to fine-tune their code. It resembles a model developed by the Mono Project, in which the information the compiler generates about a program can be reused as a library."
Re:After your personal info... (Score:5, Informative)
No, you're not getting it right, this is a service as in a process always running on your computer, not as in a cloud based compiler. The point is your program can dynamically call the compiler with additional source code to be compiled so your program can modify itself even though it's in a relatively static language like C#.
Re:So, why not use Mono? (Score:5, Informative)
You "new" it was better? I believe the word you are looking for is "knew".
Also, Mono is an implementation/compiler for .NET, not a replacement. So, if mono is better than (Visual Studios, and the MS .NET run time, I'm guessing you are referring to?) Then I'm guessing you don't want to kill .NET because that would also kill Mono, which is .NET.
To emphasize this point, I compile programs on both Mono and Visual Studios 2010/MS Runtime. I then run programs compiled on either system to run on the other.
Both are AMAZING pieces of work.