Vala for cross-platform development?

**gunnarflax** · October 14th, 2011

Hello everyone!

I'm a web developer who wants to start developing native GTK-applications. Vala looks very attractive due to it's similarities to Java and C# but can it be compiled run on other platforms or just the Linux-platform? I figured since it is so heavily integrated with GTK+ it would be very easy to also make your applications available to Windows or OS X. Am I correct to assume this or can't it be compiled for other platforms?

Thank!

**jerenept** · October 14th, 2011

If you like Java, use Java. It's available on pretty much any platform.

If you like dotNet/C#, use Mono (and ignore the chorus of Mono haters)

**simeon87** · October 14th, 2011

But the question was about Vala.

From what I know, there are Windows binaries for Vala but I don't expect many people to be able to help you when you have problems getting it to work on Windows or Mac OS X. Last time I checked Vala, it was too unstable to actually use but I'm sure it has improved a lot since then. But it's not that much in use as Java, C, C++, Python and many other languages. It's up to you if you want to use Vala. Your safest bet is probably an established language.

**crdlb** · October 14th, 2011

The C code generated by Vala should be no less portable than hand-written C. The biggest limiting factor is the portability of Gtk+ itself. Gtk's Windows and OS X support is not as mature and as well maintained as Qt's, for example.

**gunnarflax** · October 17th, 2011

Originally Posted by crdlb

The C code generated by Vala should be no less portable than hand-written C. The biggest limiting factor is the portability of Gtk+ itself. Gtk's Windows and OS X support is not as mature and as well maintained as Qt's, for example.

Thank you, that was the answer I was looking for

Thank you all for your replies!