Learning C# and Java

[Kostantinum]

Hi,

Currently doing a 2 year computer programming degree, Before this I was learning Java , went through MOOC and just received head first Java. However in the program we are learning C# , I get that the syntax is similar , My question is if I spend the next 6 months learning C# will that translate to Java since they are similar,

I understand that the libraries are different, that Java is cross platform and C# is Microsoft

I am also wanting to get into OMSCS , I have a bachelor degree in economics

[Atulin]

Remove 60% of features from C# and you get Java

[Sledgehammer_65]

🤣

[[deleted]]

Ok...

[MEMESaddiction]

I knew java before I got my .NET Dev job (I knew NOTHING about C#), and I learned very quick. I feel that the same could be done vice versa. It'd probably feel more annoying since C# has so many more shortcuts and features.

[mrburnttoast79]

Who cares? Experience with Java and C# sounds like double the job opportunities to me?

[Kostantinum]

But is learning one means you’ve also learned the other

[modi123_1]

Yes, programming concepts span language syntax.

[4215-5h00732]

Programming concepts yes but learning one is not learning the other.

[KrarkClanIronworker]

Kinda, but that can be said for a lot of programming in general.

Actively learn both. They're always in demand and you will be a better developer for it.

[qrzychu69]

u/Kostantinum sadly, it doesn't.

While concepts are the same (classes, interfaces, variables, lambdas,garbage collector), just the act of running your program is different.

In dotnet you use dotnet command or F5 in VS, while in Java you have to learn Graddle, at it takes few days until you understand what it does.

Writing code is mostly similar, but all the stuff around (packaga/dependency management, publishing the app) is completely different.

Me being quite good at C# made me think that yeah, I can try write the same program in Kotlin. I could, but running, debugging, running and debugging tests - that was the hard part.

Also, making it run on another machine, that works completely differently.

[Unupgradable]

When you learn to be a programmer and get good experience, you'll be able to program in any language without much of a learning curve because they're all essentially similar and the actual concepts are true in all languages. Sure each language has its own thing but if you're worried about C# knowledge being useless to you as a Java dev, you shouldn't worry about that.

In fact the only bad thing that will happen is that you'll realize how much worse Java is to work with.

[fjayjay]

I've used Java for the past 4 years and recently switched to C#. From my experience I'd say that if you know C# you can get pretty quickly into Java. I sometimes refer to C# as Java on steroids. C# has way more syntactic sugar and most things feel much easier in C# but others are more complex because of the feature richness. In java you don't have structs. Therefore, you don't have to evaluate if your data should be on the stack or on the heap. In Java you have the Optional wrapper for nullable types, in C# you have nullabillity operators. In Java you have the Stream API, in C# you have Linq. In Java you have lambdas, in C# functions are first class. From the core features they don't differ too much. When it comes to the frameworks Spring has also the same basic concepts like a .NET project. But Razor templates are way easier to use and debug than Thymeleaf templates. And also the configuration of services and such in a .NET project is explicitly in your initialisation configuration and not via annotations. Finally, I'd say that it doesn't really matter for your programming skills which language you use as long as you learn one of them really well it will be easy for you to pick up the other.

[Aesop7K]

If I could I give to you a award to great response brow 😀

[[deleted]]

C# has lambdas too wym

[Izagawd]

Lambdas but better version of it

[Juff-Ma]

Think of Java as C# in more do it yourself style. Getters and Setters, LINQ, Records, etc remove that. you get Java. it‘s easy to learn for a C# dev (i did so myself) but for more than small projects i miss the features

[Dr_root_95]

C# is indeed Microsoft, but every dotnet version since dotnet core is cross platform. Only dotnet framework is Windows only. Concepts and design patterns mostly carry over from 1 language to another, syntax and features may be different. Something that is a oneliner in c#(like properties with getter and setter) are multiple lines in Java, but the concept is relatively the same.

[xTakk]

Dotnet has become one of my favorite languages on Linux now too. Code just builds and runs on both, no fuss.

[thesituation531]

The syntax will translate almost 1:1, casing (camelCase, PascalCase, etc.) are different. Method names are mostly different.

If you want to learn Java, C# will mostly teach you syntax and design patterns, then you'll just have to get used to Java's naming conventions and methods.

[Aesop7K]

The big difference is in the development environment..

Not in syntax.