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Allan Hsuimeem VIP - Click to find out more
On The Verge
Posted in the monoland diaries on Sep 02, 2005 at 7:23 PM

If you've been wondering what's been going on with the OS X port of imeem:

We currently have a client in development running under OS X. We use an embedded mono runtime instance to run the backend. The UI is being written in Objective-C. Bryan Berg and I wrote a bridging framework to facilitate communication between C# and ObjC.

We call the ObjC<->C# bridging framework Dumbarton, named after the bridge that spans the San Francisco Bay between Fremont and Menlo Park. Our Reasoning: both bridges are somewhat unpleasant to cross, but they get you where you want to go. (Ever tried driving across the Dumbarton with your windows open?)

The framework tries to make it easy to bring up an embedded runtime and call managed code from native code (and vice-versa). It also takes care of various caveats that come along with the whole managed<->native craziness. Some examples:
1. Mapping between the ObjC retain/release model of memory management and the mono garbage collector.
2. Translation of C# exceptions into NSExceptions down at the invocation layer so that ObjC @try/@catch/@finally works with C# method calls.

I'll post more later on our rationale behind writing Dumbarton and why we're building imeem for OS X this way.



Comments9)

Sep 3rd, 9:56am

Very interesting, keep them coming !

Nov 10th, 7:47pm
Are you guys able to provide a Universal version of Dumbarton.framework? Can't seem to get it (and Judy) to build...
Dec 14th, 5:50am
I can't understand any of this..but I love the Dumbarton Bridge! So many " about to drive off the end of the road " games played from the back of a Volvo driving over that bridge. Ah, memories.
Mar 10th, 5:09am
very slick...i like the minimal look, yet feature rich service you provide. I'm so glad your are porting it to OS X, Mac will be my next desktop purchase.
Mar 23rd, 9:59pm Last edited Mar 23rd, 9:56pm.
sounds interesting.. :)
May 14th, 7:02am
May 16th, 9:52am
hey, anyone has the universal dumbarton? and anyone know why dumbarton cannot build against the latest mono 1.2.4?
Jun 17th, 6:32pm
hey, i have an idea, but cant figure out why it isnt working so i figured i should mention it here, since i cant fiure out how to contact you guys. I have windows vista and latley my newest project has been trying to make an imeem song gadget, but I am stuck due to the fact that i dont know the format, such as Java,HTML,etc. If you could email me the answer at santana6616@halfhatgames.com, it'd be much apreciated.
Jun 25th, 4:11am
hi goooooooood

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