Is it considered bad practice to write Windows applications using GNUStep?

Question

I want to start developing for Windows but I want to preserve some of my frameworks that I've used with NSFoundation. I want to build them on Windows using GNUStep and maybe write the whole application using GNUStep.

Would that be considered bad practice?

Answer 1

If I had to deploy apps on Windows, I'd use GNUStep, CocoaTron, or anything else I could find that let me avoid .NET or Win32. I might even settle for Qt if I had to.

Answer 2

Speaking for myself, I prefer Cocotron over GNUStep. A Cocotron application is self-contained, existing entirely in its own subdirectory under C:\Program Files. It also looks and acts more like a native Windows app. A GNUStep application requires a full install of the whole GNUStep environment, and doesn't blend in very well - it looks and acts just like what it is, a *nix app that happens to be running on Windows. Overall, I think Cocotron gives a better end-user experience.

On the other paw, the GNUStep developer tools can run on Windows, whereas Cocotron requires a developer to work entirely in Xcode and cross-compile to produce a Windows (or other non-Mac) binary. Whether that counts as a pro or a con depends on how much you like Xcode.