Java API and Microsoft's .NET API: a Comparison

Nerval's Lobster writes "Previously, developer Jeff Cogswell focused on the respective performances of C# and Java. Now he's looking at yet another aspect of the languages: the runtime libraries—what exactly the libraries are, how they are called, and what features the languages provide for calling into them. Examining the official Java API (now owned by Oracle) and the official .NET API owned by Microsoft, he finds both pretty complete and pretty much a 'tie' with regard to ease-of-use and functionality, especially since Java version 7 release 6 allows for automatic resource management. Read on and see if you agree."

I don't want to be "that guy", however

[paysonwelch]

However, I mostly code in C# .NET and I dabble in Java in my spare time to model financial markets. What I have found is that C# has some powerful features that other languages do not have. This allows the .NET framework to be a little more robust than Java. Also my opinion is that C# and .NET creates a more syntactically elegant and coder friendly experience whereas Java is good, but not as good as .NET. In closing, C# .NET > Java. Please address .NET hate-responses to /dev/null

Re:I don't want to be "that guy", however

[Xest]

Microsoft has had the benefit of being the single controller of the .NET framework whilst Java has been victim of design by committee a lot of the time. This is why the .NET framework has managed to stay tidier and more focussed, but as I said in my other post what does it matter, because who the fuck sticks to just the core framework anyway when there are things like Spring out there?

I hate them both

[Gothmolly]

As they are the harbingers of the new age, post dotcom world, where overspecced hardware fixes everything, where there are legions of entitled douchebag "developers" who took a certification course, and of apps which can't run in less than 8GB of memory (our resident BOFH hung up on our developers when they asked for a 64GB VM because they kept getting OOM errors in Java).

In short, both languages rode the crest of the cultural revolution where it is now OK to suck, to offshore code development with no expectation of quality coming back, of "agile" methods where your next version is always going to be the stable one. I'm not exactly saying that these languages CAUSED any of this, but there is at least a temporal correlation.

Yes, I am a Unix guy, and yes, I have grey hair.

Re:I don't want to be "that guy", however

[Michalson]

Microsoft has also had the benefit of Anders Hejlsberg being the lead architect, one of the best minds in the industry. There are maybe a handful of people in the industry today that can stand at the same level as him, and none currently alive that can stand taller. Hiring him away was a major boon to Microsoft and a crushing blow to Borland.

Re:I don't want to be "that guy", however

[benjymouse]

Microsoft has also had the benefit of Anders Hejlsberg being the lead architect, one of the best minds in the industry. There are maybe a handful of people in the industry today that can stand at the same level as him, and none currently alive that can stand taller. Hiring him away was a major boon to Microsoft and a crushing blow to Borland.

As much as I love to code in C#, I think that Martin Odersky is at least as smart and knowledgeable as Anders Hejlsberg. I've seen them debate each other and IMHO Martin came out looking somewhat better. And Scala is no small feat.