Importance of C# (was Re: IronPython-0.6 is now available!)

[Tor Iver Wilhelmsen]

johng2001 at rediffmail.com (John) writes:

> 1.) No classpath issues.

It *does* have classpath issues - sometimes even greater than Java's -
but most of the time this is hidden from the developer.

> 3.) A sensible, easy to use GUI library (even if it isn't very
> portable).

Swing is sensible and easy to use in my experience.

> 4.) IO doesn't require me look up the manuals each time to figure out
> which 3 or so classes I need this time.

Why not? Because the APIs closer match another language you've used?
If so, coincidence.

> 5.) Excellent performance (Not just on paper).

Performance should be about the same, since both languages are
compiled to native code on startup.

> 6.) Easy deployment.

Oh, Microsoft's fabled "xcopy deployment"? How is copying a jar file
harder than compying an EXE plus required DLLs?

> 7.) Absolutely the best web development framework (OK! I may be
> getting a bit religious here but I love the component and event driven
> model. JFaces as I looked at it was not very mature).

JavaFaces seems to match the functionality of ASP.Net's CodeBehind
logic, except you're not restricted to an event model; you configure
events yourself in XML files. IDE support for it is coming.

> 9.) An IDE that actually feels simple.

Which Java IDEs have you tried? And which C# ones?

> 10.) DESIGNED for multiple languages (I admit I rediculed this till
> recently saying that all languages needed needed to be like C# to be
> supported and it was no better than Java in this. But with IronPython
> and F#, it looks a bit promising. But I need them to be integrated
> into Visual Studio for me to love them.)

The only language designed for .Net is and will always be C#. The
other languages are *wrestled* into the CLS strait-jacket, and for
some - like C++ - it does not fit well.

> 11.) Distributed computing for mere mortals. EJB maybe better designed
> than COM+ and more portable. But something must be wrong about it's
> design that it scares me away each time.

But EJB is not the be all and end all of Java distributed computing.
If RMI is sufficient, use RMI.

> 12.) I hate MVC (OK! It is not Java's fault that every Java programmer
> wants it).

Why do you hate MVC? Are you addicted to subclassing and code
duplication?