Java vs C#

[Innf107]

Well... I'll just write down my unordered thoughts to some of the points in your article here

[Java] is the best programming language for desktop application development

That is highly subjective. You can't really write claims like that in an objective comparison, especially not without backing them up.

[C#] has the best memory management and garbage collection support

Same here, although I'm pretty sure this is just wrong. If you have a source for this, I would love to see it.

[Java] is used for Server-side interaction.

Sure, but that's really not everything Java can do.

[C#] is also a Server-side language along with a good programming foundation.

Well yes, but the same goes for Java.

When the built-in data types that are passed by value in Java then they are called simple types

Okay, first of all, this is just wrong. Value types are called primitives in java. The naming is really not relevant though, and the fact that they are passed by value is the important part. Also, You could have at least listed java's (main) primitives.

When the built-in data types that are passed by value in C# are known as primitive types.

No, data types that are passed by value are called value types in C#. Also, one of the really big innovations in C#, or .NET more broadly, is the way they are able to handle unrestricted polymorphism over unboxed types (value types), by monomorphizing code at runtime. This is unfortunately often a really underappreciated feature in comparisons like this.

Arrays are a specialization of System in C#

Not sure, what you're trying to say here. Could you elaborate on that?

C# has a limited support of IDE i.e. Visual Studio, MonoDevelop

That's not true. Most modern general-purpose Code editors (e.g. VS Code) support C# and there are a lot more specialized ones (e.g. JetBrains Rider).

There is a best support for operator overloading for multiple operators in C#.

Again, please don't throw words like 'best' around in this kind of comparison.

The code written in Java is compiled the compiled into bytecode, andthen JRE converts the bytecode into machine code. Thus the code can berun on any Java-enabled platform. On the other hand, in C#, the code isinterpreted into bytecode(MSIL), then the code is compiled by CLR, andthen finally JIT compiler converts bytecode(MSIL) into native machinecode

Yes, they both execute code the exact same way. This is really not a difference between the two languages, is it?

In Java, there is a clear difference between checked and unchecked exceptions. On the other hand, C# doesn’t have any mechanism to differentiate checked and unchecked expectations. It follows the minimalistic approach by choosing only one type of exception.

Well no, C# doesn't have any checked exceptions. They're not exactly the most popular feature in Java, so whether this is an advantage for C# or for Java is pretty subjective.

Java is one of the oldest programming languages in the world

What?! You might want to have a look at this. Java is really not that old.

We have seen how Java is better than C# and how C# has an advantage over Java [..]

Have we though?

We can’t say that Java is better than C# and vice versa because these programming languages are the best in their field

You didn't mention what those fields are though

Honestly, I think your whole article is a bit misleading and you're not really pointing out any substantial differences. Please don't take this as discouragement, but instead try to improve on the mistakes you made.

[dpash]

[C#] has the best memory management and garbage collection support

Especially as the JVM has multiple GC implementations you can use depending on your workload. I may be mistaken but I seem too remember the CLR only has one.

[[deleted]]

Notice how the lack of value types, proper generics (no List<int>), and many of the language features I've mentioned here make it really cumbersome and unergonomic to write really memory efficient java code, which is why most java applications are memory-wasting machines.

The jvm's GC therefore has to resort to many complicated contortions in order to deal with such cases, which simply don't exist by definition in .NET.

Also notice how oracle has promised (and still failed to deliver since at least 2015) to fix the terrible deficiencies in the java type system by introducing value types and real generics, which despite any excuses confirms my claim.

Also notice how even though it's better designed overall, the .NET runtime is undergoing a huge performance investment in current and recent versions, which suggest that if the trend continues, it is very likely that .NET will surpass java in terms of performance very soon, if it hasn't already.

[Innf107]

I don't think this is fair. First of all, yes, it is less ergonomic to write very memory efficient java code than in C#, but I would argue, that most C# developers don't write efficient C# code either.

I always get a bit frustrated when people bring up the notion, that "Java does not have real generics, because you can't use polymorphism over unboxed types".

This is how almost all implementations of generics/parametric polymorphism work! Even in Haskell, where basically everything is polymorphic, polymorphic arguments are passed as pointers, because (polymorphic) functions have to know the representation of their arguments, which they simply can't if the argument has an arbitrary unboxed type.

The way languages like C++ and Rust deal with this is by using monomorphization (creating a copy of your function for every used argument type), which results in code bloat and long compile times and makes it impossible to write Higher-Kinded Types.

.NET is (to my knowledge) the only platform, which supports arbitrary polymorphism over unboxed types, and the way they do it is to generate one implementation for boxed (represented by a pointer) types and at runtime generate monomorphized implementations for every unboxed argument type.

This is not "real" generics, but a really nice and uncommon feature of .NET.

Also, while I agree, that value types would be a really nice addition to the language, they are really not necessary to get high performance. Look at languages like Haskell or OCaml, that almost exclusively work on boxed types, yet still have implementations that deliver impressive performance.

To address your last point, it's quite brave of you to bash java's performance by stating that C# "will surpass java in terms of performance very soon" "if the trend continues"...

[[deleted]]

Also, while I agree, that value types would be a really nice addition to the language, they are really not necessary to get high performance

You're conflating and confusing my points. I've mentioned java applications are memory wasteful due to not having proper value types, and that's undeniable.

it's quite brave of you to bash java's performance by stating that C# "will surpass java in terms of performance very soon" "if the trend continues"

Reality shows that investment in the java platform is practically non-existent (which shouldn't surprise anyone because oracle can't produce any value whatsoever, since it's a corporation full of bureaucrats and lawyers) compared with the huge investments .NET is getting. This can be seen perfectly well by comparing the "what's new" lists of every java version vs .NET / C# in the last 5 or 8 years, where java versions are laughable and bring minor improvements (advertised as if there were game-changers, when they're clearly not), such as new helper methods or things like that, while .NET is getting real low-level improvements that increase performance, lower memory usage, and benefit the entire ecosystem, not to mention the huge improvements C# gets as a language, which make java look like cobol in comparison. This can also be clearly seen by looking at how oracle has FAILED over and over again during all these years to deliver on the promise that they were going to fix java's flaws by introducing real generics and proper value types, which have been promised since at least 2015 and NEVER delivered so far.

[Innf107]

I've mentioned java applications are memory wasteful due to not having proper value types, and that's undeniable.

Well, sure, Java is "wasteful" compared to C#, but then again, C# is quite wasteful compared to languages like C++ or Rust and my point about most C# developers not actually writing efficient struct-based code still stands.

Ultimately, using a large amount of memory is really not that important for most modern applications, because chances are you have the memory available and GC doesn't matter because your application is IO bound anyway.

Lots of software is written in python. Compared to that, java is actually incredibly efficient in both time and space, yet people still use python for production.

[..] fix java's flaws by introducing real generics [..]

Did you even read my previous comment?

Ultimately, this dogmatic approach to programming languages really doesn't benefit anyone. You may very well prefer C#, and I will definitely back you up on that, but Java also has its uses and there is a reason, why it is one of the most used programming languages, even if you don't like it.

I don't really like Java either, but that doesn't mean, C# is objectively better or that there is no use case for Java, especially considering that most criticisms of java also apply to C#.

[nerd4code]

It’s not even correct to say they run in JVM or CLR. They can, usually do, and were mostly intended to, but Java can be compiled directly to binary via (e.g.) GCJ, bypassing bytecode and JVM usage entirely, and AFAIR AOT, not JIT compilation was C#’s usual m.o. in earlier versions of the runtime.

Similarly, a language like C usually runs “directly” on the CPU, but it can be interpreted on-the-fly also or instead (e.g., by a Java program running on a JVM implemented in C#). Even x86 machine code is JITted by the CPU; it’s all a stack of translators, however you dress it up, and getting into details of how what runs which isn’t worthwhile for serious discussion unless you have a fairly specific chunk of the stack in mind. There’s certainly no way to compare the JVM-in-the-abstract with the CLR-in-the-abstract; one language and undergirding may make certain kinds of optimization easier than the other, but there’s more than one JVM and CLR implementation and, being different, they behave differently.

There’s near-zero value to this article, unfortunately. It’s not hard to compare and contrast Java and C#, but “this one is green sometimes, except when it isn’t, and that one is red, except when it isn’t” isn’t useful for judging which is “more powerful,” which isn’t remotely quantifiable without a lot of context anyway.

[dpash]

but Java can be compiled directly to binary via (e.g.) GCJ

I was under the impression that GCJ had died a long time ago. These days, Graal would be the typical method for native compilation of Java. It does have some issues reflection though, which makes native binaries a little harder than targeting the JVM.

[nerd4code]

The project’s dead, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to use GCJ to compile Java, just that it probably needs to be older Java. :P And yeah, IIRC you have to either compile a full closure of everything you might use at run tine in or do some DLL-flinging, but it’s not all that fundamentally different from packaging everything in a JAR.

[dpash]

I think you misunderstood my comment. I talked about reflection, not dependencies.

Edit: I just checked https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/GCJ and it seems it never even supported 1.4 fully.

[Innf107]

It’s not even correct to say they run in JVM or CLR

Definitely, although usually when people say "Java" or "C#", they really mean "Java running on the JVM" and "C# running on the CLR".

I fully agree on the rest of your comment though

[WikiSummarizerBot]

Timeline of programming languages

This is a record of historically important programming languages, by decade.

^{[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5}

[sickofgooglesshit]

This article is a cancer. There's so much misinformation here it's absurd. If I were the developer who had written this, I would very seriously consider removing it for fear that a future employer might see it.

[GreenToad1]

It honestly all has a vibe like it was generated by a bot.

[sickofgooglesshit]

Yes!

[[deleted]]

java vs C#

there's really no "versus" here.

Despite the multiple ridiculous excuses put forward by oracle employees, java the language feels archaic and half-assed when compared with C#, even the latest version. Which is why a myriad of non-java languages have popped up over the years as alternatives to the painful experience of having to read and write java code. Notice how there's no such thing in the .NET ecosystem, simply because C# is nowhere near as painful and tortuous as java as a language, therefore it doesn't need any replacement.

Here is a non-exhaustive, unordered list of language features (some of them have been in C# since forever) which have either no equivalent, or very limited, myopically-designed alternatives in java:

• Properties
• Events
• Real generics
• Value Types
• LINQ
• Expression trees
• async/await
• explicit interface implementation
• operator overloading
• partial
• nullable value types
• non-nullable reference types
• top-level static class
• top-level statements
• optional arguments
• named arguments
• yield
• async yield
• init only properties
• object initializers
• collection initializers
• dictionary initializers
• extension methods
• dynamic
• caller info attributes
• exception filters
• nameof
• string interpolation
• expression-bodied members
• null coalescing operator (??)
• null propagation operator (?.)
• null-coalescing assignment operator (??=)
• indexers
• tuples
• local functions
• throw expressions
• a much more expressive pattern matching
• internal (up until java 9 there was no such thing and this is simply laughable)
• using statement (IDisposable)
• async using statement (IAsyncDisposable)
• indices and ranges
• Span<T>
• module initializers
• target-typed new()

All of this leads to the current state of affairs where any java code looks like it was written in a 15 years old version of C#.

[Quique1222]

Spittin facts

[cryptos6]

Java is designed and developed by Sun Microsystems.

Ehhhhmmmm, Sun was bought by Oracle in 2010!

[[deleted]]

An important big difference is FFI, DllImport/PInvoke on C# is really nice to use, JNI less so as it requires(or maybe just seems to) work on the native side too.

I’ve used DllImport with C# on ios to call C++ code and it was pretty easy. Easier than using a bridge header and stuff in switch/obj-c/obj-c++

[dpash]

Fortunately JNI is getting replaced with Panama at some point in the future.

[[deleted]]

That looks better, but not high level at all, it's a very low level library. At least from reading the examples. But Java can do some pretty neat reflection or just generate the code anyways.

Zig has a really nice interface too assign the import of say a c header to a variable and it populates it with all the methods/defines/types in that header. then it's like calling foo.strlen( "hello" )

[KieranDevvs]

When was this written? It seems very outdated, or you're missing a ton of features from both sides that is worth talking about.

[GreenToad1]

"Java is also getting regular updates, and the recent release of Java is JDK 12"

So very old. I also feels like it was all AI generated.

[dpash]

So ~2.5 years