Difference between Mono Android and Xamarin.android

Question

I always struggle to understand what is Mono Android and how it is was different from Xamarin.Android .

If Mono was there then why Xamarin.Android came into picture?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Xamarin.Android as a product name (formerly "Mono for Android") is the encompassing standalone package that includes an MSBuild-based build system not just for .Net/Mono compilation but also for the Android SDKs/Tools, Mono Linker, APK construction, .Net/CIL-based bindings for the Android APIs, etc...

This includes a mobile-optimized Mono runtime that is an Android-based NDK binary that supports the Android OS runtime on Intel and ARM processors.

Thus in this context , Mono is "just" the Android runtime for the CIL, JITter and supplier/host of the Java Dalvik/ART VM within the Xamarin.Android package.

Mono Android and how it is was different from Xamarin.Android.

Personally a lot of people I know still use the older "MonoDroid" product name as do I. Mono for Android, MonoDroid, Mono.Android, Mono Android, Xamarin.Native for Android, etc... again lots of semantics for the same thing. I still call Xamarin.iOS as its original MonoTouch name.