C# Vs Java

C# is not a competitor to Java. Well, this is what Microsoft claims it to be. Every time someone writes or compares Java to C#, Microsoft always cries out foul. It is unfair to compare the two languages. As more developers start to play around with C#, many are starting to see strong similarities between the two languages.

Productivity is the key for development team

You can develop applications for the Microsoft platform using Java. But it's more sensible to use a .NET language instead for one simple reason: productivity. Microsoft makes it easier to take advantage of the Windows platform than Java does. Creating Windows services, writing to event logs, debugging SQL Server stored procedures, accessing the registry, working with COM—all of these are simpler in terms of time to market in .NET than they are in Java. It's not that C# is better than Java. But Microsoft has created all the classes to handle Windows-based tasks and made them available through wizards, drag and drop, and point and click.

Java is designed to be platform independent, so naturally it doesn't ship with as many Windows-rich features. Java developers who sit through the .NET classes often let out audible gasps, followed by jokes about how Microsoft is putting developers out of jobs because of the ease by which much .NET development is done.

The .NET decision

A debate on the technical merits of one language vs. the other is for the most part a moot discussion; you can pretty much do the same things in both languages, with minor exceptions. So at this point, your decision should be based on the answer to this question: “Does the application need to run only on the Microsoft platform?” If the answer is yes, go with a .NET language—primarily C#.

Bear in mind that we will, no doubt, eventually see .NET-written applications run on Linux and other platforms, but that day is still some time away. For now, pick your platform first and your language second.