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Recommendations for choosing a programming language [closed]

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Closed 12 years ago.
Days ago I created a program in Python to download stuff from the Internet, doing HTTP POST and GET and parsing JSON objects. I noticed some slow performance and I was thinking about writing it from scratch using another language, so I started to write it in C++ to make it faster. Finally I give up, C++ wasn't made for the Internet and it's very difficult to get something working.
I was thinking about giving C# or Java a try, which would you recommend? (I need my program to be fully cross-platform, other programming languages are valid too)
Edit: You can check the source code here: http://code.google.com/p/grooveapi/

Rewriting an IO bound application in a different language is unlikely to make any difference in its execution speed.

If you need it to be cross-platform: (i.e. you just write it once and it can run anywhere) Then Java or Python are your only options. This is because any C variant will need compiling specifically for the platform you intend to use it on.
My suggestion: Out of the two I would suggest Python. I have be educated in Java at University, and have learnt Python myself. Python is the language I turn to for web programming projects (in the form of Django on a larger scale) and the language used at companies I have worked for inside of their web applications.

Before you switch to another language... are you sure the performance problems are due to the language itself? It can very well be possible the problem is in the program, or the network latency or any other reason.
Don't blame the language before you've profiled your application carefully, maybe you have a bottleneck somewhere. The cost of a new development will be always very high, specially compared to a few line changes if you've found a problem in your code.

how did you notice "slow performance" when using python? I mean, python is slow, ok, but for your use case it shouldn't matter. Did you profile the code? Can you paste the code here so we can take a look and maybe improve it?

I don't know what kind of performance issues you had with your program in python but it usually does great for me ( scripts parsing log files that are huge take really little time for instance...).
now It all depends on the general purpose of this. If its just a script, no gui etc.. then you should definitely look into optimizing python, or doing some perl or php-cli script.
I'm not familiar with it first hand but ruby seems to have a big following and seems very "internet" oriented aswel.
If you do want to create something more than a script you have lots of options, c# is one of them, but it won't be cross platform, i'd go with java.
In the end I'd recommend rechecking your python code, it seems odd that its not doing what you want performance wise.... python is really good.

You should choose the language you feel most comfortable with. In most cases the performance of the scripting language is not the bottleneck. It is more important to get things done quickly and keep it maintainable. I would recommend you to choose Ruby or Python. If you have to get Python faster you still can choose to use JIT implementation like PyPy. Actually quite high traffic webapps, like YouTube, use Python.

I'd go with the good, old PHP! It has proven time and time again, that it is more than capable of doing this, and is quite easy to learn.
So my advice: Go with PHP!

Is VB developed on the same scale as C#? [closed]

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Closed 12 years ago.
I know VB is still very popular, but does Microsoft put the same effort into developing VB as they do for C#? Will VB eventually fade away?

Microsoft is focusing on making C# and VB.NET (not VB6) similar in what is being termed as a "co-evolution" of the languages. We can see this with C# 4.0 adopting optional parameters and VB.NET 10 adding support for automatic properties and multi-statement lambdas.
This is supported by the following links:
Q&A: Microsoft's Lisa Feigenbaum
Talks About C#
Luca Bolognese
(PDC '09) - Future Directions for C#
and Visual Basic
Luca Bolognese:
C# and VB.NET Co-Evolution - The
Twain Shall Meet

Very few people are adding to VB.NET numbers but people already started with VB and then moved to VB.NET will stay around for a long time.

I started in this line of work developing Access apps. VBA 6 is still used in Access 2010, and my colleagues of old refer to .NET as "LINQ and other stuff". The point being, they don't need .NET "luxuries" to satisfy their clients needs cheaply and effectively.
VBA being a whole lot less than VB6. So the same will apply to many VB6 developers.
However, I think the question (although not clearly stated) refers to VB.NET. In that case, I think VB.NET gets as much attention as C#. The big difference is that most of the best samples are in C# and as development nowadays depends heavily on googling for samples, that tilts the balance in favour of C#. But only just. And there are things that are easier to do in VB.NET than they are in C#, although C# 4.0, with optional parameters, etc, is closing that gap.
Me, I left Access partly because I live in a rural area so it makes more sense to develop apps for the web that don't require me to travel to client's offices. But mainly, because aesthetics are important to me and I HATED the VB syntax.
Other people hate curly brackets. I think they illustrate the scope of what each item of code has access to, but there you go, horses for courses.
No. Categorically NO. VB.NET will not fade away, and VB6 and VBA have not yet exhausted their potential.

Java and C#, how close are they? [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
I've been using C/C++ and Python, but I now I see that a lot of new programming books use Java or C# as examples.
I don't think I'll use Java or C# for the time being, but I guess I have to study one of the languages (or both of them) in order to read/understand the books.
How similar Java and C#? If I learn Java, is learning C# almost free? Or vice versa?
If I have to choose only one of the two languages, which would be better? Which has wider coverage in terms of programming language?

You are asking several questions at once. Let me address them separately:
How similar Java and C#?
Both C# and Java drew from C/C++ (and Objective C, and others) to define their syntax. And both of them are compiled to an intermediate language.
This common origin makes the languages look similar in many levels, to the point that code in either language can be confused with the other by beginners; and also makes the runtime environment somewhat comparable. However, there are substantial differences in both design principles and how each language evolved that make working with each quite different; here are the most prominent ones:
On the syntax level, Java was influenced by Smalltalk, while C# tried to stay closer to C/C++ (eg: compare Java's extends and implements with C#'s : notation) and took a vague inspiration from VB on those concepts that weren't mappable to C/C++ (example: property syntax).
On the features level, C# 1 was definitely close to Java. Among the few differences they had, I'd highlight C#'s support for "unsafe" code (including pointers) and for delegates; and Java's controversial throws. This makes sense, since one of the goals of C# was to become an alternative to Java.
Many language features differ heavily on implementation details. For example, enums are very C'ish on C#, but are full objects in Java; or generics are implemented on the IL-level in C#, but in Java are dealt with via type erasure (neither is really close to C++'s templates besides syntax).
On the API level, they are worlds apart. C# relies on the .Net Framework, which was built on Microsoft's experience with the Visual Studio family of products (and thus is significantly Windows-oriented), while Java's Class Library was built, IIRC, from scratch, and heavily evolved over time (on these Swing days, does anyone remember AWT? I do).
Finally, it's worth mentioning that each of the languages has its own idioms, and its own community of supporters behind it.
If I learn Java, is learning C# almost
free? Or vice versa?
Neither. The key similarity is the basic syntax (semicolons, curly braces, array indexing, case-sensitiveness, etc), and you already have that from C/C++.
If I have to choose only one of the two languages, which would be better?
Short answer: flip a coin.
Long answer: it depends on your coding style and on what aspects of the language you value most. My best advise is to start by trying to learn both, until you feel that one of the languages pulls you more strongly than the other.
Alternatively, you can take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Java_and_C_Sharp.
Which has wider coverage in terms of programming language?
If you mean language built-in features, I'd say C# wins for a narrow margin. Most of the features that C# has and Java lacks are syntax sugar (although they together make a significant difference on the learning curve and on the way the language is used). I value really high C#'s operator overload and extension methods. Also, LINQ is quite an interesting concept, but it is essentially a declarative syntax for loops.
Hope this helps.

The libraries are very different, and the approach to documentation is very different. I find the C# approach to easier.
To illustrate what I mean, in either language some object that you want to deal with may be implemented by inheriting from "object" to "generic object" to "specific object." In Java, if you want to find out about a property of the "generic object" you have to go to the doc for that, whereas in C# documentation, all the properties are listed for the "specific object."
At least that's the way it seemed to me back a few years ago when I did some Java.

If you want a brutally subjective answer.
I have just finished a degree in Computer Science in England, I chose a university that taught C# as opposed to Java.........reason being, so I could easily walk straight into a highly paid job as a software developer with a company that simply only wants people who know the "new" technologies.
These are companies such as Investment Banks, tech startups, IT Consulting firms.
So if you want to pick one to learn......
Think about the end goal.....if it's cash and modern knowledge...follow C#.
....and if it's anything else, follow C#
P.S. Java is terrible - I had to say it.

Not a 1:1 mapping since C# 1.0. C# has added lots of stuff (LINQ, closures,etc.) that have no analog in Java.

What are the dangers of a language that is "owned"? [closed]

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Closed 13 years ago.
C# is owned by Microsoft and Java is owned by Sun/Oracle. What dangers does that really expose to the users of these languages? Has anyone felt their code was "owned"? Do projects like Mono help keep the "owners" honest?
Please do not make this a holy war of languages. I just want to know if it's rational to avoid such languages or if that's just paranoia. An interview with the inventor of C++ got me thinking, but I also want to balance his thoughts with the thoughts of the community as a whole.

As compared to what? Since you put it in these terms, the original C and C++ languages are "owned" by Bell Labs.

Java is not "Owned", it is open source. If you find a bug in it that you absolutely cannot deal with, you CAN fix it. (There are both open source and closed source implementations, however)
I don't know if you can get the source code to C#, but since Mono copied it there IS an open source for that as well.
I don't know if there is a second source for the .net libraries.
As for the actual "Dangers" (Which was your real question, after all), it would be that the company decides not to release updates any longer--if they do, will the language wither and die or will it take off on it's own? Java is in the process of transition from one of these states to another. Sorry, don't know about C#.
There is also the (Perceived) danger I mentioned earlier about--can you fix it if you hundred-million dollar company absolutely needs it fixed in order to continue.
This was a more significant problem twenty years ago, these days the fact is that if it's a good stable language, this isn't something you ever need to worry about.

No such danger for C# language. It is an ISO standard. Formally it is owned by a committee. But Java is a trademark

Getting up in the morning is risky, but that doesn't keep the world under the covers.
I feel like this is one of those acceptable risks. In Java's case, companies have used it for the last 15 years or so to their benefit.
What's the alternative? Developing and maintaining your own language so you own it? That's what SAP did. It seems to have worked out for them, but it'd be interesting to calculate the cost they've incurred.
Bjarne Stroustrup is a brilliant man, but let's not forget that he has biases. He isn't happy that Java eclipsed C++ as the primary object-oriented language when it came out. He's attributed it to Sun's marketing, not conceding that it might have improved on C++.
It's a good practice to try and spot biases on the part of any speaker to make sure you're not swallowing someone's view whole. This is one of those cases.

If there are not two independent implementations, language is "Owned" and you are at the mercy of the vendor should he raise prices or can the product.
I don't like that.
EDIT: As often as not, you can count legally forkable codebases as two (the second is yourself).

Aren't all languages owned by a person/company/standards body. The only way I can think of where it isn't really owned by anybody is if the person who made it is anonymous and also public domain

hmm, well Xbox only supports C# for indie games, and no other platform supports it.
obviously the danger is that if you want to do multi platform code, you want the language supported by the most platforms, the more "owned" language is probably going to be supported by less platforms.
the only issue I have is support for the language, and how hard it is to convert from one to the other, for instance I would say c++ to c# is easier than the other way because of memory management.

What could C# learn from Java? [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
I've been a "Microsoft developer" ever since I started programming... I started out by learning QBasic then ASP & Visual Basic and finally I moved on to learn VB.NET, ASP.NET and C# which is now my primary language. Still I've always wanted to learn something like Java or C++ to see how what the "other side" is like, and to learn the pros and cons of each platform. The only problem is that I never found the time or opportunity to pick up another language.
My basic understanding is that Java and C# have a lot of similarities as well as a lot of differences. Coming from C# I'm mostly interested in what C# could learn from Java, or put another way, what I'm missing out on.

Nothing, C# based itself on Java :)
prepares to be ridiculously downvoted

Should support Java like Enums, In C# they are just name for numbers !!

I think C# would be better off if they enforced the one public class per file and forced you to put your code files in a directory structure which matches the namespace (i.e. "package"). This is one thing I really like about Java that frustrates me in C#, especially when people start moving .cs files around, and putting multiple public classes in one file.

Personally I would have preferred to use the Java style for properties. I don't like the fact that properties in C# looks exactly like fields and yet have entirely different semantics. By making it clear that properties are really just methods there is no illusion and less risk of mistakes.

Anonymous interface implementation - Java does it, C# does not (yet).
For example:
// C#
interface IRunnable
{
void Run();
}
var runnable = new IRunnable()
{
public void Run()
{
Console.WriteLine("Running...");
// Do your running
}
};
runnable.Run();

checked exceptions
package visibility for submodules. AFAIK you can only have one module per assembly. I mean a group of tightly coupled classes which can see each other but should be hidden from the outside world.

C# obviously learned a great deal from Java, just like Java did from C++. They've traded back and forth in both language features (e.g., Java taking annotations from C#) and ancillary projects (NHibernate, NAnt, Spring.NET, POJO/POCO based development, etc. all have their origins in Java).
But I'm afraid that Java's not advancing anymore now that Sun lost market and people and has been sold to Oracle. I don't see anything coming out of Java or vendors that looks terribly new right now. Java 7 has been a long time coming, and it's catching up with closures and other things.
I think whatever energy is left in language development has passed to dynamic and functional languages.
The only development that I'm aware of that could change that is Rikard Oberg's Qi4J. He's so out there. It's just going to be a long time before it becomes mainstream, if ever.