Question about C# appropriateness

[Anthony P.]

Hello Everyone,

I have a piece of hardware that does not have any drivers. So, I'm
considering taking the dive into driver development and writing my own
and I'm considering doing so in C#. I'm wondering, though, if C# is an
appropriate language for this task or do I really need C++?

Can anyone give me any advice?

Thank!
Anthony

[Jeroen Mostert]

Re: Question about C# appropriateness

Anthony P. wrote:

I have a piece of hardware that does not have any drivers. So, I'm
considering taking the dive into driver development and writing my own
and I'm considering doing so in C#. I'm wondering, though, if C# is an
appropriate language for this task or do I really need C++?
>

C# uses the .NET framework. The .NET framework, as it currently is, is
simply unusable in kernel mode, which is where device drivers reside. The
exception is the new user-mode driver framework (from Windows XP SP2
upwards), but even that would just mean a lot of P/Invoking in C#. C# would
make your job harder here, not easier.

For now, device driver development is still restricted to C/C++. It's an
advanced topic with a high learning curve if you're only used to user-mode
programs, so make sure you know what you're getting in to. Depending on the
kind of device, you may not have to write a driver, but just a program that
can communicate with the device over an existing bus (parallel port, USB,
serial, whatever). If your device has only one specialized function and
doesn't require microsecond-precision timing, having a program to control it
may be as good as having a general-purpose driver.

--
J.

[=?Utf-8?B?UGV0ZXIgQnJvbWJlcmcgW0MjIE1WUF0=?=]

RE: Question about C# appropriateness

Virtually 99% of driver development for the Windows OS must be done with C++,
because of the fact that drivers require native code that interacts directly
with the OS.
-- Peter
Site: http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog: http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com
MetaFinder: http://www.blogmetafinder.com


"Anthony P." wrote:

Hello Everyone,
>
I have a piece of hardware that does not have any drivers. So, I'm
considering taking the dive into driver development and writing my own
and I'm considering doing so in C#. I'm wondering, though, if C# is an
appropriate language for this task or do I really need C++?
>
Can anyone give me any advice?
>
Thank!
Anthony
>

[Anthony P.]

Re: Question about C# appropriateness

I'd like to thank everyone for the thoughtful replies and I now see
that C# just isn't where it would need to be to be able to do device
driver creation using the language. I suppose it's C++ then. Thanks
again!

[Rad [Visual C# MVP]]

Re: Question about C# appropriateness

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:11:28 -0800 (PST), Anthony P. wrote:

I'd like to thank everyone for the thoughtful replies and I now see
that C# just isn't where it would need to be to be able to do device
driver creation using the language. I suppose it's C++ then. Thanks
again!

While that is certainly true, there are devices that support the .NET
framework natively, in the guise of the .NET Micro Framework. They're quite
few as of now, but they are there
--

http://www.thinkersroom.com/bytes