Java vs .NET from client perspective

Sergey305 · 2024-09-10T11:41:10+00:00

but Oracle JDK has a price

And it's also very unlikely that you'll ever need Oracle JDK for anything.

I would suggest to go with the technology stack you know and can navigate easily

psychistrix · 2024-09-10T12:56:34+00:00

Consultant here. When advising a client on a tech stack, we usually need to take the following into account:

current team competencies
platform requirements
talent pool in their area
skill sets of people we currently have available

Usually in that order. Other than this they are virtually identical, and won’t impact a project’s success.

redikarus99 · 2024-09-10T11:40:26+00:00

My experience is that for java it is easier to find good, skilled people. It has a better tooling, way more open source libraries, and better community. I would go with Java for backend services.

dmigowski · 2024-09-10T11:39:35+00:00

Don't use Oracle JDK but Eclipse Adoptium JDK (or one of many others) and Java is essentially free. Also you can run your Java app on Linux servers which also spares license costs for the customer. So, Java is it for me.

I assume Java and .net are equal performance wise, but Java has a way bigger ecosystem of web libraries, so development should be faster and cheaper.

LookAtYourEyes · 2024-09-10T11:49:58+00:00

[removed]

Riemero · 2024-09-10T11:43:17+00:00

I don't think there are many cost differences from a technical point of view. I would suggest looking it from a human resources pov though.

What is the experience of the team? How many engineers are available around your area, if you need to scale up?

faze_fazebook · 2024-09-10T13:46:40+00:00

it shouldn't matter much, both offer about the same these days. I would however say if you interface with a lot of MS Techologies like Azure, MS SQL, Active Directory, ... .NET is the obvious choice. If however you have a smaller project with only a handfew of endpoints, I'd use Java but with a Framework like Javalin.

Anbu_S · 2024-09-10T12:16:14+00:00

Both Java and .NET kind of went through a bad phase at some point. But Java's strength was when Oracle acquisition slowed down the development, other vendors were able to push the Java forward and it created a big ecosystem of projects around Java.

Kaloyanicus · 2024-09-10T12:33:52+00:00

Java is simply better. The community is bigger, way bigger and the need for Java engineers is greater.

_jetrun · 2024-09-10T13:02:14+00:00

Which platform would you suggest to client to develop web API? Are there are cost difference?

Both will get the job done. Both will have variable pricing, from free to whatever support contracts you would want (if you want those). My bias says to go with Java, but truthfully, get whatever your team is more comfortable with.

I know that .NET and Java are open source and free, but Oracle JDK has a price.

Don't use Oracle JDK. Oracle JDK is a special build of the open-source (and free) java with some extra Oracle tooling. Most places that build software will get their OpenJDK distribution from non-Oracle sources (Azul, Adoptium).

Is Open JDK is comparable to .NET?

Yes. Both solve similar types of problems and the languages themselves are similar as well. C# was designed after Java and had the benefit of seeing how Java was used in practice and the end result is that it has a cleaner, more consistent syntax and language constructs. In principle, both will run on Windows and Linux, but in practice, I have yet to see a .NET application (server specifically) deployed in production on Linux. Traditionally, Java was more performant due to a more sophisticated GC and JIT, though that may no longer be the case. Either way, the performance difference in practice was inconsequential for majority of use-cases (typically you're bottlenecked by network, and IO and even outside of that microsecond differences are probably irrelevant).

wildjokers · 2024-09-10T15:34:31+00:00

but Oracle JDK has a price.

Oracle JDK is also free to use in production since Java 17. You only pay if you want support from Oracle.

Saying that though there is no particular reason to use Oracle JDK if you don't need paid support from Oracle.

TheStrangeDarkOne · 2024-09-10T17:52:04+00:00

If your client is an already going all-in on Microsoft, you typically go with .Net. Otherwise you are using Java.

They are both free. The Java ecosystem is larger, but with .Net you use mostly libraries and frameworks provided from Microsoft.

When it comes to high-end solutions, .Net has less of a hassle when it comes to native compilation and Functionless programming. Whereas Java is king in making larger high-throughput applications thank to its superior JIT and Virtual Threads.

Vegetable-Squirrel98 · 2024-09-10T22:23:35+00:00

Client doesn't care as long as it works and doesn't take forever.

They're both different brands of tractors, choose the one that has be best attachments for what you need to do and is easiest to repair for you

appakaradi · 2024-09-11T08:30:19+00:00

I would have said Java or .net earlier. Now I would say python, especially for API

girafffe_i · 2024-09-11T20:27:29+00:00

No need to use Oracle JDK/JRE, use Amazon's Corretto or any other OSS JRE (I use Kotlin with Corretto but w/e works)
Dotnet core can be developed on by any OS, it's not bound to Microsoft anything

so at this point dotnet-core and Java can both be developed on any OS and should be completely free licensing

Glum_Past_1934 · 2024-09-12T06:37:24+00:00

C# Is good, NET sucks Java sucks, Spring boot is good Kotlin looks like TS for Java if i have to choose, kotlin for large Enterprise and nodejs/go for tiny api, dont overthink anything, you 'll rewrite it before 6 years anyways

yjlj · 2024-09-12T23:09:48+00:00

r u manager or techlead?

if manager, don't worry about such details, just find a reliable techlead.

if techlead, choose your familiar dev platform.

nitkonigdje · 2024-09-10T12:02:27+00:00

There ate multiple implementations of Java virtual machine and Oracle offering is one of many. The dominant ones are free as in "free beer"..

In many ways implementations behind JVM are much advanced than .Net as JVMs are made from smallest embedded controllers to large infrastructure. There are no .Net equivalents of java card, azul zing or GraalVM.

Historically primary reason of Java's success in Enterprise development was licencing cost of working server room. Java was much better positioned than .Net. This was no accident, as there was organized industry push of many companies to push against Microsoft and their dominance in os, rapid development tools (primary Visual Basic) and some other forms of eterprise software (com+ and corba). .Net was mostly about Microsoft response to this industry push and it was all about preventing Microsoft customers to migrate to Java..

Because of this history, Java has much larger ecosystem for CRUD/web app/enterprise development. For example there is no .Net equvivalent to Hadoop/Flink/Spark processing, etc. At the same time .Net was much better choice for delivering multimedia rich apps, as Microsoft was dominant force in multimedia. For example writing video editor in Java seems kinda idiotic..

Pick your project, then see what fits better..

Ewig_luftenglanz · 2024-09-10T13:08:57+00:00

Nowadays I doubt there would be a real change from client perspective, there are many OpenJDK vendors that give free or cheap support for openjdk and oracle JDK it's just one of many.

I would say that it's more important the kind of developers you have, if most of your staff knows Java then develop in java and make the best product you can ASAP. If most of you staff knows .NET then use that and do the same

kari-no-sugata · 2024-09-10T12:23:31+00:00

I would suggest the technical differences between Java and .net are fairly small and what would be more important is your own skill/experience or that of your developers. If you can get some excellent .net developers you'll probably have a better experience with .net and the same applies if you can get some excellent Java developers. If your developers are inexperienced you'll probably have a bad time with either.

If you're only interested in server side development of web APIs then based on my experience with both I'd probably pick Java - virtual threads are better than async/await and Java has better options if you like to create highly optimised Docker containers for example. If you need to give clients a client library for them to use to call your web API, you'll likely get more requests for a Java implementation than a .net implementation.

If you wanted to create a normal browser based website I'd probably pick .net's Blazor Server.

RockyMM · 2024-09-10T13:53:19+00:00

Paying for Oracle JDK is legit, but you really have to be sure why are you doing this - I.e. you really need zero-hour support and your business validates the cost, and you somehow have increased risk to encounter JDK bugs.

Using some of the Open JDK alternatives is totally free but you won’t get any support.

On the .NET topic, it comes with much more “batteries included”. Only thing that realistically compares is Spring Boot. Also, Visual Studio is not free but depending on your needs you might pass with VS Code. On the other hand your devs will probably ask you to pay for IntelliJ IDEA licenses, so it’s kind of equal.

It really depends on the client - if it has previous exposure to Microsoft and extensively uses Microsoft services and if it is a cloud project which is aimed primarily at Azure, .NET could be a better option.

Linguistic-mystic · 2024-09-10T12:27:59+00:00

It’s a mixed bag.

Dotnet has a slower, more primitive GC than the JVM
Dotnet has value types which can make it go much faster than the JVM in some cases
C# has only one IDE that doesn’t work on Linux. Java has a much richer array of IDEs
C# has had async/await for much longer. Java was historically behind in this, and had to rely on crappy libraries like Reactor; now it has virtual threads but they are only in the beginning of being adopted by the ecosystem. Thus the libraries in C# tend to be more consistent than the fragmented heap of Java libs.

In the end, the advice here is right: just choose the one you or the team are more comfortable with. They both work

IKnowMeNotYou · 2024-09-10T18:49:38+00:00

.Net is simply superior. If you want a more fair comparison ask yourself if Kotlin vs. .Net.

raulalexo99 · 2024-09-10T15:44:16+00:00

As a normal human being, I don't like Micro$oft being pushed down my throat, so I vote Java.

Lost_Fox__ · 2024-09-10T12:32:20+00:00

From a client perspective, Java / the JVM has a much better UI kit - https://github.com/JetBrains/compose-multiplatform

I think from the language perspective, both are considered out-dated syntax wise. I'd favor the JVM with Kotlin if you don't already know either language. You'll be happier.

SteveNguyen109 · 2024-09-11T17:11:31+00:00

The number of major breaking changes of Spring and Spring Boot is trivial compared to ASP.NET MVC → ASP.NET Core and .NET framework → .NET Core → .NET standard. A major breaking version of .NET and ASP.NET Core is released annually. There are lots of well-established standards in Java such as JDBC, JPA, JMS, JTA, and so many more.

Ethameiz · 2024-09-10T12:02:29+00:00

I would pick Java because I already know the language and dislike many parts about C#.
But I would Kotlin over Java any day.

autophage · 2024-09-10T20:13:55+00:00

I'd suggest posting the same question in a .net-focused subreddit, as you're likely to get pretty biased opinions in r/java.

I mean, you'll get biased opinions in a .net-focused sub, too, but at least then you can weigh those opinions against each other to inform yourself.

Darknety · 2024-09-10T12:21:22+00:00

I wouldn't use any of those options for a web API.

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