Why doesn't Sun do a C# to Java byte code compiler?

Question

We Want to Run Our C# Code on the JVM

My company has a large C# code base. Well over half of this code is our core engine for creating, reading, modifying, calculating

Answer 1

I know this might not be what your looking for, but here are some possible alternatives that (if not to you) could be useful to others.

1. C: You could port as much as possible to C. Now you can make a wrapper in C# and Java (and any other language that can communicate with C) that makes it feel native to their language while programming. The problem now is that you (or them, depending your license) has to build the C part for each platform.

2. Fantom*: A programming language that according to their home page, is:

   • Portable: Write code portable to the Java VM, .NET CLR, and JavaScript in the browser.
   • Familiar: Syntax Java and C# programmers will feel at home with Fantom's evolutionary syntax.
   • Object Oriented: Everything subclasses from Obj. Value types when you need the performance.
   • Functional: Functions and closures are baked in.
   • Static and Dynamically Typed: Don't like the extremes - take the middle of the road.

3. Haxe*: (pronounced hex) is cross platform language that compiles to other languages. Soon C# and Java will be supported. It currently supports:

   • Javascript: You can compile a Haxe program to a single .js file. You can access the typed browser DOM APIs with autocompletion support, and all the dependencies will be resolved at compilation time.

   • Flash: You can compile a Haxe program to a .swf file. Haxe is compatible with Flash Players 6 to 10, with either "old" Flash 8 API or newest AS3/Flash9+ API. Haxe offers very good performance and language features to develop Flash content.

   • NekoVM: You can compile a Haxe program to NekoVM bytecode. This can be used for server-side programming such as dynamic webpages (using mod_neko for Apache) and also for command-line or desktop applications, since NekoVM can be embedded and extended with some other DLL.

   • PHP: You can compile a Haxe program to .php files. This will enable you to use a high level strictly-typed language such as haXe while keeping full compatibility with your existing server platform and libraries.

   • C++: You can now generate C++ code from your Haxe source code, with the required Makefiles. This is very useful for creating native applications, for instance in iPhone development.

   Haxe Community. (2011, March 11). Haxe Introduction. Retrieved January 29, 2011, from http://old.haxe.org/doc/intro

   You can learn more about why Haxe is useful here.

*I have never used this language and I don't know how well this would work.