I have a C++ game engine that currently supports Windows, Linux and Android (NDK). It's built on top of SDL and uses OpenGL for rendering.
One of the design constraints of this game engine is that the cost of development must be $0.00 -- building the engine should come at no cost to me (other than man hours), I must be allowed to freely redistribute the engine's code and binaries, and users should be able to sell games created using the engine with no restrictions.
Right now, I'm using a very slow interpreted scripting language for game logic -- it actually works well for writing glue code and simple responses to UI events, but not much else.
I'd like to replace this system with a C# solution -- have the user compile a C# class library (DLL) containing their game logic, and have the C++ side 'consume' this DLL and call the appropriate hooks.
It's been rather difficult to find information on how to achieve this in a cross-platform way. Each platform has a different way of hosting the needed runtimes. Also, most articles I've found suggest the use of full-fledged frameworks that provide platform abstractions that are already implemented in my engine.
Is there currently a way to run code from a C# DLL from an Android NDK-based C++ application without using an entirely different SDK, and without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for a license?
In particular, I'm eyeing some of Microsoft's recent open source .net initiatives -- anything there I could use?
EDIT: To clarify, Windows and Linux have well-documented ways of running .net code 'for free' -- this question pertains specifically to calling managed code from an Android NDK application WITHOUT paying licensing fees to Xamarin or another vendor.
It's been rather difficult to find information on how to achieve this in a cross-platform way...
I'm only going to address the issue of "write once, run everywhere."
I build and maintain a library, composed of a single set of sources, that runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Windows Phone, Android and iOS. To do that, I had to write everything in portable C/C++, and then build DLLs or shared objects.
The project uses .Net interop to call into the DLL, and Android uses JNI to call into the shared object. On iOS a static library is created rather than a shared object.
The DLL or shared object does have some platform specific defines. For example, it must know how to get random numbers from the underlying OS. So it will have a function like:
bool GetRandomNumbers(unsigned char* ptr, size_t size)
{
#if defined(WIN32) || defined(WIN64)
...
#elif defined(__linux___) || defined(linux)
...
#elif defined(__ANDROID___)
...
#endif
}
So keep your core business logic portable and in a DLL or shared object, #define where you must to abstract platform differences, and you will be OK.
On top of the portable library, you layer the platform specific GUI stuff.
If you try to write this in C# and then use that on other platforms, you're just going to be causing yourself problems. The only way to do portability with a single set of sources is to use portable C/C++.
I've also seen folks re-implement in every language: C and Win32 for Windows, .Net for Windows, C for Linux, Cocoa for OS X, .Net for Windows Phone, Java for Android and CocoaTouch for iOS. That creates about 6x the work, and the behaviors are never quite the same across platforms.
A popular script engine for games is Lua; you might consider using that, since it's trivially easy to link with C/C++. If you use LuaJIT, it's also blazing fast on Android (and not shabby on iOS).
One alternative to consider is that if you build your custom engine on top of Cocos2d-X, you'd not only get Lua (or JavaScript) for free as a connected scripting engine, you'd also get portability to Windows (Win32 and Windows 8.1 Universal), iOS, Mac, and Linux, an IDE (!!), and a huge supportive community.
Or you can spend a lot of time figuring out how to integrate C# into your engine.
The simple answer is no, what you're looking for does not currently exist. You will need to drop/change requirements to find a solution.
The closest I know of is dot42 - which seems to support some of .net on android has recently been put on github and the main site shut-down - but there's no mention of license in the main compiler repository (I've added a bug to get that updated..)
It's not clear that it supports dynamic loading of C# .dll's though as it claims to compile to DEX. (But it may be free, depending on what the developers release as the license...)
Xamarin is the only other feasible alternative that I know of, but as you're aware only the starter edition is free.
If what you're after is purely better scripting support, I'd drop the compiled and C# requirements and find something that works well on android already. Lua is my go to solution for this kind of thing, but I've not used it on android before... and many other options exist.
Related
I am interested in this new platform - Tidekit. But I couldn't find any answer to my questions:
Is it possible to add C# (or at least C++/JAVA) code or Dll libraries to the solution?
Is it possible to make a package with html+js+css and native code (C#/C++/Java) working in one executable file or executable + dlls?
There are already working solutions like CefSharp, Awesomium, but there is a problem to make external resources (html, css, js) embedded inside the project.
I would like to hide my implementation from end users somehow.
I'll appreciate any answer related to my questions.
We don't support C#, but yes to the rest.
Again, no C#, but yes to answer this question.
Further explanation below:
We've developed TideKit to have a small and stable core so that the apps can be built up in a modular way with the functionality you want in your app. TideKit provides simultaneous extension in ObjC++, C++, Java, and JavaScript for web, HTML5 hybrid and native apps.
Generally, developers will consume modules without the need to write lower level code because the functionality already exists both natively and for HTML at the same time. So mostly it is about consuming modules and writing your app in JavaScript.
Modules allow a project to be built for desktop, mobile and web from a single base of code. TideKit is a uniquely develop once, deploy everywhere platform with easy-to-use JavaScript APIs and CommonJS modularity. The best way to write TideKit apps is CommonJS. More than 60K modules of CommonJS functionality is available through npm and components registries. Folks familiar with nodejs will be at home with it. You can also write conventional JavaScript or easily migrate an existing TideSDK app.
Automated packaging, installers, and distribution are part of our solution. There are packaging options that can provide bundled or network installs to take advantage of dynamic libraries for efficient runtime code to keep the amount of installable and distributable code to a minimum.
TideKit has the capability to build in different ways from your project source to optimize for AppStore compliance or even highest HTML5 compliance. You can use it to build HTML5 or native apps for virtually any platform you wish to support. On the backend, we have capabilities for the widest range of mobile and desktop operating systems and for web deployments. Beyond building your app simultaneously for multiple platforms, you can also develop, test, and deploy your APIs from the same base of code.
Our build service protects your code from exposure by encrypting and embedding the sources in a binary. Hope this helps.
I think it is possible to use DLL's with something in between using Ti.Process...
the idea to execute a DLL is to have something in return (a very especific process, only for windows desktop I believe). I'm facing the same challenge but I guess I will approach to Ambiance Air App which uses a DLL to validate the license of the product...
in short it could be
var myScript = Ti.Process.createProcess({
args:['python',Ti.API.application.resourcesPath + "/??????"]
//the unknown command for the exe that uses the dll? it should return an object! not even functions...
});
myScript.myObject;
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I'm building an application for multiple desktop platforms: Windows, Mac, and maybe later for Linux.
I was wondering which programming language and IDE combination would be the best for me:
Programming language need to be whether C# (preferred) or Java.
Core libraries must be shared between all platforms, means all platforms must link to a single core library (by library I mean a list of classes and functions).
Windows and Mac are in priority, Linux app is for future plannings.
Design of the app is completely custom, it doesn't follow any guidelines of each platforms.
I'm stuck between these three solutions:
Use Xamarin.Mac + Visual Studio for Windows and link the core classes between them.
Use GTK# for the whole project and compile multiple builds for each platforms.
Use Java for the whole project and compile multiple builds for each platforms.
For #2 and #3, I need an advice that which language is more suitable for me, considering the design of my application. I mean, which one has a better GUI building ability for my goal?
BTW GTK# uses different libraries for each platforms, so that should be an clutter for my core architecture, or not?!
Three years later and Javascript is now also a strong contender in this debate.
There are multiple options within the space.
https://electron.atom.io/
https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/
And others
Even Microsoft has shipped Visual Studio Code, the cross platform version of their development environment, which is written in Javascript.
What is the Visual Studio Code editor built on
The benefits include utilizing the many available web libraries, and building/using your web development skills.
This sounds like a job for Xojo or something similar: http://www.xojo.com
Mac, Windows, Linux builds with easy GUI design and native apps. Custom UI easily done also, and you'd then have one code base for all three platforms. You can download and use the software for free to develop and test, only requires a license once you decide to build your app.
You can also conside Livecode
Livecode: http://livecode.com
For any platform except web, it is opensource and it includes mobile targets as well, if your code is flexible enough to not being C# or Java.
An option is to build the core logic in a compiled library using C# and GUI independence and then plug it to livecode, leaving the UI work for that tool.
"GTK# uses different libraries for each platforms", do you mean different rendering back ends (such as X11, Cairo)?
You only need to build your GTK# app once. However, you do have to bundle the GTK# runtime (which is different for Windows and Mac) with your app. Banshee is a good example you can follow.
Probably your best bet is to use Nevron Open Vision. It is a cross-platform, C# based User Interface Platform, that implements most of the controls you need to build enterprise-ready applications. It is the framework behind MyDraw (www.mydraw.com) - a professional drawing program similar to Visio. MyDraw is built completely with Nevron Open Vision and does not require any other third-party libraries. We mainly develop it under Windows and just compile it to Mac. Soon we are going to add support for Linux and WebAssembly hosts.
Microsoft just launched .NET MAUI, a cross-platform GUI framework that builds on Xamarian.forms.
As we consider what building device applications will look like in a unified .NET, we see many devices across multiple platforms used, from Android and iOS to Windows and macOS. To address this need we are excited to announce a new first-class UI framework for doing just that: .NET Multi-platform App UI, affectionately call .NET MAUI.
This seems to meet all of your requirements. They do not explicitly mention Linux in their article, but claim to support it in the description on the Github Repo.
It depends on the audience of the app: Consumer mass market or business/IT
If its mass market consumer facing
Electron or native UI, perhaps with shared non-UI code. Visual Studio Code was made with Electron, for example (last I checked). Google Flutter is a new entrant worth evaluating. Dropbox is Python (or used to be). It is a lot of work (a) getting Python packaged properly for smooth x-platform install, and (b) GUI work will take a long time. Sadly, for mass market consumer apps (not utilities for IT people but beautiful designs for the masses like Dropbox, Skype) you will be spending a ton of time getting the installation system to work and getting the app to look and feel appropriate. This is an extremely time consuming endeavour no matter what path you take.
Consumer: Java? I don't think Java is a great fit for consumer desktop although I could be wrong. There are some Java packaging systems that are leaner/all bundled in. I'd also say JVM software companies tend to go under (more on this later). FreeMind the free mind mapper, is a good example of what can be achieved in Java.
Consumer: .NET? Yes, for the Windows side. Then use something native for Mac and shared libraries for non-GUI code. There is ".NET Core" aka Mono but its not fully matured at this time for Mac. Mono has been around for over half a decade and I haven't seen it mature for a consumer app. Ask: How many .NET Core apps are in the Mac app store? I hope it gets better but as of this writing (2020) there's very few notable ones.
Business app or IT tool
If its a basic business app or utility where a basic UI is okay, I'd evaluate Xojo and/or LiveCode mainly for comparison sake. Xojo is fairly close to .NET. Google Flutter as well since it's up and coming. By the time you read this, Flutter may be the best choice.
B2B: Java? This is a pretty tried, tested and true solution for "heavy" enterprise apps. You might not have end-users love you given Java apps tend to eat up memory. But for enterprisey apps the main concern is that the very intense business logic will work. For IT tools, it depends. If it's a 3-screen utility program, avoid Java. If it's a complex ERP then Java is good. Remember to look around for different packaging tools to avoid consumer headaches with the JVM. Again, one Java desktop app I like is Freemind. It's a great example of making a reasonable desktop app in Java. I have used it in both Windows and Mac and it's great. You can also look at Kotlin or Groovy (for test cases) which compile to Java byte code.
B2B .NET? There is so much to unpack here. The key is, in my biased view, .NET Windows desktop development is about 2X-4X faster development time than Windows Java desktop development. From making the GUI, to better code completion, to faster compile times, to less packaging and install snags. That said, at the time of this writing the ".NET Core" or Mono are pretty thin for MacOS. I really, really hope this changes. But I've been waiting years for Mono or .NET Core to provide a full suite for MacOS without the limitations and it hasn't yet happened. If it's an enterprise app, you might be able to get away with using .NET Core for Mac. But please first build a basic .NET Core "hello world" app with all the control/libraries you want to use. Then try building an installer for it on MacOS, and find someone random with a Mac to see if it actually installs and runs. You may find you're struggling in this area today (although I hope it gets better, it hasn't for years).
Overall Notes on Cross Platform
If this is a smaller app which doesn't need a fantastic UX and super-deep OS integration, then I'd consider Xojo or LiveCode, perhaps for the UX elements. Like #merlucin said, you can write the core logic in something shared- perhaps C#, python, etc.
Here's why- Xojo and LiveCode have been around for 10 years now. They are more about keeping things consistent. Whereas I find .NET and QT changes all the time. You have a lot of costs of keeping up with the Joneses and maintaining installers. So for a small app or utility- an XML editor, IT helper tool, Xojo or perhaps LiveCode will help you get there sooner.
When you hit the build button on Xojo, for example, it literally makes 3 executable files for Windows, Mac and Linux. Compare that to the madness of packaging a cross platform Python app, or even packaging a .NET app for Windows, to be honest.
The tradeoff is these tools- Xojo and LiveCode often end to be missing a few critical things you need, requiring a bit of a hack. You can read around their forums. Xojo is a bit like .NET although LiveCode is a different programming paradigm entirely based on "stacks".
Keep in mind developer happiness too. Many developers wont want to code in Xojo or LiveCode because they are lesser known languages. So ensure you get buy-in. What happens if you get laid off and have 5 years of experience in Xojo? Hmm.
In your evaluation, no matter what you choose-- you must compile a basic GUI app in the platform you're evaluating and get 3 people to install it correctly on a Mac. You'll be shocked at the libraries and madness needed. Especially if you're a web developer, you'd see that just maintaining installers is a ton of work across 3 platforms. Never mind GUI consistency.
I have a game server which is made in Java. I want to make a plugin system that loads a .NET DLL and calls events / functions inside that DLL, then inside those I'll have to call functions in the game server (Java). The only part that is giving me trouble at the moment is how to interface java and a .NET dll.
I've been searching and found some things but they were all based on products and I want to make my own interface for that. Ah, not to mention it needs to have high performance, the code will be called a lot of times in a second if it has to. Could someone point or give-me ideas how could I work this out?
EDIT:
To make it more explicit:
Game Server (Java application) calls a function in .NET dll
The .NET function just called by java, calls multiple functions from Game Server (Java Application).
Take a look at jni4net if you're targeting Windows. It's an alpha quality release, but Robocode already uses it to run .NET robots inside the Java runtime.
Another option is to use a high-performance messaging approach. You'll need a second process - likely a .NET plug-in host. That process then exchanges messages with the main Java game process. Messaging libraries like 0MQ are pretty darn fast but may not be fast enough for what you have in mind. In addition, you'll have to create a lot of message plumbing which may be cost/time prohibitive.
Try using iKVM:
IKVM.NET is an implementation of Java for Mono and the Microsoft .NET
Framework. It includes the following components:
A Java Virtual Machine implemented in .NET
A .NET implementation of the Java class libraries Tools that enable Java and .NET
interoperability
http://www.ikvm.net/
If you only have a few methods you are calling you might just use JNI and do it yourself instead of a 3rd Party tool (though I admit I don't know the details of jni4net). Just a word of caution, the project I'm on had to do a similar thing (C# -> C/C++ -> Java via JNI) and we had nothing but problems with it. Problems mainly because the java api didn't have any good documentation so that might have been part of it. If at all possible try to keep it to one language but if that is not possible, make sure you do lots of error checking. When the app crashes, it is very hard to find the problem (unless you own both the java and C# sutff). Just my $0.02...
It's my understanding that C#, though created by Microsoft, is a programming language that can be used or implemented for things other than .NET programming. For example, I could create a compiler for C# to target native x86 or other processors or even a JVM. Is my understanding incorrect? Does anyone know if C# is used for anything besides .NET?
C# is used for an experimental operating system called 'Singularity' which is written in the managed level from the ground up. An interesting project to watch!
Edit: Thanks Jörg W Mittag for his comment - Helios is actually a modified form of Singularity to support satellite kernels, to quote from the paper I am reading right now 'Helios is an operating system designed to simplify the task of writing, deploying and tuning applications for heterogenous platforms. Helios introduces satellite kernels, which export a single uniform set of OS abstractions across CPUs of disparate architectures and performance characteristics. Satellite Kernels allows developer to write applications against familiar operating system APIs and abstractions.'...interesting...
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Tom.
You are correct that it can be used for other things. It's a language specification...you can compile it into anything you like if you take the time, but it'd be a tremendous effort.
I don't know of any other uses besides Mono as jrcs3 said, but hopefully Eric Lippert will chime in and give you a compiler point of view on C#
C# itself is a specification specified by the ECMA that "specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of programs written in the C# programming language." as is the CLR. The most popular implementation of these is currently provided by Microsoft, which is the C#.net that you know. C# and the CLR are open standards, meaning that anyone can implement them themselves, hence the formation of mono, a C# compiler for mac/linux. Compare this to java, who's only implementation is provided by sun. It's not an open standard, so you can't create your own implementations.
from wikipedia:
Mono "An open source, cross-platform, implementation of C# and the CLR that is binary compatible with Microsoft.NET"
DotGNU "is a part of the GNU Project that aims to provide a free software replacement for Microsoft's .NET Framework"
Dot Net Anywhere is a .net CIL interpreter for targeting embedded systems.
As far as I'm aware, all currently existing implementations of C# build to CIL and run in the .NET CLR or compatible environment, and the only alternative to the .NET CLR I am aware of is Mono.
In other words, all current versions of C# build to run in .NET or Mono.
.NET and Mono use the same 'binaries', so effectively all current C# compilers have only one target.
Another area of use is for iPhone app development (and I believe iPad now as well) via MonoTouch.
What is MonoTouch?
MonoTouch allows developers to create C# and .NET based applications that run on Apple's iPhone and Apple's iPod Touch devices, while taking advantage of the iPhone APIs and reusing both code and libraries that have been built for .NET, as well as existing skills.
Roughly speaking, it goes like this:
MonoTouch -> MonoDevelop/C# -> write an iPhone app -> compiled to native code -> iPhone app.
Relevant links:
MonoTouch
Writing your First IPhone application in C# using MonoTouch
Note that Unity 3D also allows "C# Scripts", and compiles to target Mac, Windows, Web, Wii and iPhone (and therefore iPad).
There are indeed tools to convert a .NET assembly to a standalone executable or library, so that you don't need your clients to have the .NET framework. This also further protects your code against reverse-engineering to some degree -- you can't use Reflector to see the .NET source on a native binary.
See Remotesoft Salamander .NET Protector, for instance.
But, that isn't strictly C# -> native; Salamander converts the MSIL to native code.
On the other hand, there is at least one academic project on making a C# -> native compiler using LLVM, called LLVM#.
You can compile a C# program on Mono. But that probably doesn't count.
Mono is an alternative implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) that runs on Linux and various other operating systems. As mentioned in other places, both C# and the CLI are ECMA standards and can be implemented by anyone who cares to do so.
Rotor is another non .NET implementation.
You can use it on iPod apps if you use MonoTouch.
I will be developing some applications using mobile barcode scanners and need to choose between C++ and C# for coding on the scanners.
I am considering Intermec's CK31 or similar for the combination of wifi, scanning choices, programmability and user interface options. It runs Windows CE .NET 4.2 according to their spec sheet.
Intermec's Developer Library comes with .Net and C++ SDKs. My previous Win CE 2003 experience is in C++ (MFC GUI, sockets and serial comms). I'm comfortable in C# with WPF and can learn other GUI frameworks if I have to. That gives me freedom to choose a language - any recommendations one way or another?
I am NOT looking for answers advocating C++ over C# as languages in general - my productivity in either is similar and I have enough experience to be able to create complex, robust C++ solutions.
What I would appreciate are war stories or factors to put into our platform evaluation, about programming on these devices. eg: battery life of C# apps vs C++ apps, memory consumption or other environmental impacts of the language choice. If there are specific versions of .Net CE to avoid, that would be a good tip.
I've been designing and developing software for Windows Mobile and Windows CE in C, C++ and C# for quite a few years now. Moreover, I been doing so for Honeywell (formerly Hand Held Products, purchased by Honeywell in 2007) where I've worked on nearly all aspects of the devices, from drivers and services to Line of Business GUIs and utilities.
First of all, I won't tell you one language is better than the other... I probably spend a 50/50 split of my time with each, and each platform definitely has their own place in the mobile development.
I will however, give a suggestion that you likely stay away from any device that runs an OS as old as WinCE 4.2, especially if you are even considering .NET development. The reasoning for this is that 4.2 only has, at most, .NET CF 1.0 embedded in ROM (part of the OS ROM image), meaning that you would require a ~5MB CAB file to install at least .NET CF 2.0 Yes, you could develop with CF 1.0 but, truly, it's not worth the pain of using such an old framework. Most WinCE 5.0 devices these days come with CF (Compact Framework) 2.0 installed in the ROM so I would at least look for that.
On that same vain, you may even want to consider using a device with Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 as they are easy to program with and will always have CF 2.0 pre-installed. In case you're wondering why I have not mentioned CF 3.0 or CF 3.5, it's just because the first Mobile platform to be release with those versions will be Windows Mobile 6.5, which is not out yet. Though you can always install the framework if you want (~8MB CAB).
Granted, WinCE definitely gives you a more "Windows" look and feel to its GUI over its Windows Mobile cousin, so that is all a matter of your programming preference and what your end users want and need.
Regarding kgiannakakis's comments on SDKs being only a thing layer, this is just not true. If you have a proper SDK you should have all of the same access to any devices or drivers that you would in C++ but with the ease of C#. For example, Honeywell provides an extensive SDK for all of our devices in C++, VB and C# and the C# portion of the SDK actually has more functionality than the C++ portion. You will never have to do a P/Invoke with our code from C#.
If you want to take a look at the SDK I'm talking about, it's freely available to download here and has some great examples.
IMHO I would actually consider the provided SDK as more important than the hardware in many cases since, most of the time, the hardware for the devices is pretty much the same. They all have ARM CPUs, WiFi, Bluetooth, Laser or Image based scanners, etc.
Though, I looked at the Intermec link you posted and it doesn't look like that unit actually has a built in scanner...are you using an external scanner hooked to the device?
Take a look at the Honeywell offering if you want here. We've got devices with probably the best imager based bar code scanner in the business, built into all of our units. And we have a rock solid SDK (I should know, I wrote a lot of it). And the SDK provides .NET extremely access to all of the hardware on the device. Ok...I'll stop my sales pitch now.
As for one language over the other...it really all depends on what exactly you want to do.
Drivers and services cannot be written in anything but Native (Win32) C or C++. So .NET is out for anything like that.
C and C++ can absolutely be your friend on mobile devices in terms of keeping things lightweight, since you don't need the whole .NET framework to run the add. Remember, you have a maximum of 32MB of memory for any process (not including DLLs..that's another lecture) so if your application is going to be processing a ton of data, C++ may be the way to go.
One of the major disadvantages I've found to C and C++ on mobile systems, however, is that making a GUI is way harder than it is with .NET Actually, most of the C++ apps I write are completely headless and have no GUI at all... .NET CF does not have WPF (yet), and is stuck with WinForms, but it's really easy to pick up. Pretty much drag and drop in the designer. And also remember, like I mentioned before, that WinCE has a completely different GUI paradigm than Windows Mobile. However, sometimes the Windows Mobile way is kind of nice, since it forces you to keep your GUIs simple and to the point.
Memory consumption can be higher when using .NET, but not always. For one, having a device with the version of the CF you are going to use stored in ROM will mean that you will generally have no more memory used on a .NET application vs the equivalent C++ app. In some cases, .NET will even use less memory. For example, a .NET app vs a C++ app that uses MFC can often use less memory because the C++ app has to load up the MFC framework (since it isn't already loaded by the OS...).
Also, since C# is managed, you will often end up with less memory usage because the garbage collector is freeing up memory that you may have forgotten to do in a C++ app.
Execution speed on more modern devices is generally no different between the two. Granted, you will always have little parts of each language where one will be faster than the other, but .NET is mature enough at this point that the speed is not really a concern. I have programmed extremely fast applications with highly interactive, animated GUIs that ran just fine on a device with 128MB RAM and a 420MHz ARM CPU. I even wrote one app that I had to slow down because it was calling into a native DLL via P/Invoke and the .NET portion was essentially getting "Impatient."
I have never seen any issues with battery life in one language vs the other. But I've never specifically tested for it either.
I really think that, in the end, it still comes down to the SDK that comes with your device of choice. If it has poor .NET support then you will find your self doing a lot of extra work getting everything to work, in which case I would go with C++. But if it has great .NET support (like the one I work on) you will find yourself with a lot less work and probably get the job done significantly faster.
Also, remember that it's not just the SDK of the hardware vendor you have to take into account. While you need that specific SDK as each device is different (i.e. the SDK I linked to earlier will not work on that Intermec device) all of the non-hardware related OS stuff is pretty much standard across the board, which is where the Windows Mobile or Windows CE SDK from Microsoft comes in. Their C++ support is pretty good, but they are really pushing all things .NET these days, so as updates are made to the OS, less updates are made to the C++ SDK and much more functionality now relies on using .NET Not that you couldn't do it in C++, it's just that they haven't done a lot of the work for you that they did do in the .NET SDK.
Ok...that was long, but I was trying to dump the finer parts of my years of experience into one thing. I hope it made sense.
The answer to your question has to do with the type of your application. If your application is mainly around communicating with the hardware and only a thin layer of business logic and User Interface is needed, then C++ would be a better choice. To interact with the scanners you need to talk to a driver. This is better and faster achieved with C++. The .NET SDK will actually be a wrapper of C++ code using a ton of P/Invoke, which makes the code performing less faster.
If on the other side your application requires a significant business layer and/or a User Interface, then .NET (and specifically C#) is a better option. In that case the productivity gains far out weight the performance gains of C++.
Another important factor is the type of the devices the application is going to be deployed to. Are you targeting Windows Mobile devices only? Then .NET is a safe option. For Windows CE devices you need to investigate whether the compact framework is pre-installed or not. Also, some Windows CE devices may not support all .NET namespaces.
Finally, I recommend reading Mobile Architecture Pocket Guide, which is a recent document about architectural decisions for mobile applications.
First I'll strongly echo Adam's recommendation against running anything based on CE .NET 4.2 at this point for essentially the same reason. At this point it's an ancient version of the OS and unless you are getting the terminal for free it's not worth it and if you choose to do C# development the download of the CAB to run .NET 2 is just painful.
We've developed a lot of applications for both Motorola(Symbol) and Intermec devices. The current set of APIs for both of them work reliably so I'd worry more about the suitability of the device than the specific APIs. They also both provide reasonable sample programs that make it easy to cut and paste a solution.
I have noticed one other big difference between Motorola and Intermec. On the Intermec devices I've worked with (in C#), it takes about a second for the decoder for each symbology to be loaded. This typically isn't a big deal if you use a limited number of symbologies and setup the scanner at the start of the application, but can cause significant delays if you change the decoders(symbologies) within the application.
I've been developing for about 15 years. Approx 5 years in C++ and 3 years in C# (which currently is my language of choice). In C++ I always used stdlib, and sometimes boost.
I have cut my development time with a third since I switched from c++ to c#. That was done because of a couple of things (nothing scientific, just my opinons):
.Net is a more complete framework and easier to use than stdlib and boost combined.
C# has a better structure which make easier to read others code and to code.
Unit testing in .Net is light years from unit testing in C++, especially with Resharper and xUnit (xUnit got clean syntax, resharper let's you test specific test methods directly inside dev studio).
I mostly code servers, GUI programming should be even faster.