Contest: C# vs. Java vs. Visual Basic

[BackSlash]

C# all they way... as soon as you let go and let Microsoft take over your life, you notice that it has become a lot easier to program. I love java because of its portability, but it lacks in performance, and visual basic just feels well to basic to me. The .Net Library is pretty cool, although I don't believe in Microsofts way of doing buisness. But at least they arn't Apple.

[G_Morgan]

I love java because of its portability, but it lacks in performance

Not sure how you can make this claim and support C#. Part of the .Net EULA is that you aren't allowed to benchmark it. As a result we have no meaningful studies into it's performance. .Net programs start quicker than Java but that is not the same as performance*. In essence, don't trust everything people tell you. MS have intentionally done this because they know people will look at the start up speed and assume, with no real benchmarks to go on, it means C# is more efficient.

Now Java does allow benchmarking and out of the VM/JIT language implementations out there that have been benchmarked it is comfortably the most performant. Java actually does better than a lot of native compilers (performs at about par with D). If you want performance you'd use C or C++ in any case. In the vast majority of cases it isn't performance that is the issue though.

*.Net starts quicker mainly because it's security checks aren't as strong as Java's. The main use of Java right now is in the server room and security is vital.

[jacky]

I prefer VB than others because it is easy to understand & it graphical user interface

[BackSlash]

Yes Java is the best when it comes to languages ran in a VM but it is also very slow, anything that I have written in java that uses GUI tends to be very slow in comparison to C++ or C# and that is what I mean by performance. Also are you claming that just because the EULA prohibits benchmarking of the language that people haven't done it?

[chili5]

I like Visual Basic because I know where theres a lot of resources for it, and its really easy to learn.

[G_Morgan]

Yes Java is the best when it comes to languages ran in a VM but it is also very slow, anything that I have written in java that uses GUI tends to be very slow in comparison to C++ or C# and that is what I mean by performance. Also are you claming that just because the EULA prohibits benchmarking of the language that people haven't done it?

I claim only that there is no trustworthy evidence. C# is run in a VM so compares to Java. C++ of course is usually ran natively and beats them of course with a decent compiler.

[TcM]

I used to like, and still like a little VB but now I'm experimenting C#, and before starting I was a little skeptic, but now I like it much more... it combines my VB and Pascal knowledge into one language, so for me as I know Pascal and VB, it is quite simple to understand this language more and I know it is much more powerful, so ATM I'm quite happy with it... After this I would love to experiment a little with Java.

[8gigabytes]

Pick visual basic if you are a beginner. commands in vb is easier to learn.

[chili5]

But a beginner could easily learn C# just as easily as VB i think.

[G_Morgan]

But a beginner could easily learn C# just as easily as VB i think.

Same language they only have different syntax.