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.NET is the perfect stack for the generalist. - As a consultant if I am handed a .NET project, even if it's a ios, android, web app, or a wpf application, then

.NET is the perfect stack for the generalist. - As a consultant if I am handed a .NET project, even if it's a ios, android, web app, or a wpf application, then I'm usually familiar with 100% of the ORMs/PDF libraries/GUIs/build systems/source controls/IDEs/web frameworks they use(excluding client side web). I can come up to speed and get running quickly whether it was built last year or 10 years ago. It's the exact opposite of the javascript environment where two different javascript apps have less in common than a ruby and python app. It also allows me to meet all my clients need well enough on one platform. - Because of the previous item, it's perfect for enterprise which needs to be able to scale up and down teams internally. - Tooling is built for ease of use and is amazing. A lot of tooling from my experience in the java world is more powerful but with much much steeper learning curves. Leading to far more specialization. - Visual studio is a best in class IDE. - It's not java. From a language perspective java is still playing catch-up. Java is great, there are a lot of amazing open source projects on it, the big data story on java is far more compelling, you can write much better Android apps, and and large multi-department transactions financial/enterprise software. But it is in no way shape or form superior to .Net in all ways.

pjmlp 9y ago
As generalist I find being able to do Java, .NET and the occasional C++ dive, a nice way to have the best part of all cakes. :)
cjsuk 9y ago
.Net does have two major downsides that kill it for me entirely (as someone who has used it for 15 years now): schizophrenic roadmap and deprecation, immature libraries. The deprecation means you can't rely on the longevity of the vendor's whims to build your product on. The library issue is a biggie - there are just so much more higher quality libraries in Java. The language matters considerably less than the libraries do when you want to get from A to B.
- redcalx 9y ago
  On the library front we've used IKVM a few times where there was a java lib that did what we wanted with no equal in .NET land, e.g. Saxon XPath2 would be a primary example. However, with the developer of IKVM stepping down this has created a possible future risk.
- sli 9y ago
  It also doesn't help that almost 100% of the time, when I'm Googling for docs, I get sent to a page for something deprecated that may or may not still exist in the version of .NET I'm using. It seems like more often than not, I have to really hunt for up-to-date information, and even then I'm never really sure. MS direly needs to do some SEO work on MSDN. That and the alarming amount of mixed information you get on whether or not using X is a better idea than Y, for ill-defined (from all angles, including MS), deprecation-related reasons. At least that was my experience a couple weeks ago when I got placed on a one-off .NET project. I'll admit that I'm not terribly experienced with .NET's standard library. But I am very familiar with C# as a language and I'm comfortable using it. It was rather frustrating for the stumbling block to be what it was.

pjmlp 9y ago

As generalist I find being able to do Java, .NET and the occasional C++ dive, a nice way to have the best part of all cakes. :)

cjsuk 9y ago

.Net does have two major downsides that kill it for me entirely (as someone who has used it for 15 years now): schizophrenic roadmap and deprecation, immature libraries. The deprecation means you can't rely on the longevity of the vendor's whims to build your product on. The library issue is a biggie - there are just so much more higher quality libraries in Java. The language matters considerably less than the libraries do when you want to get from A to B.

redcalx 9y ago
On the library front we've used IKVM a few times where there was a java lib that did what we wanted with no equal in .NET land, e.g. Saxon XPath2 would be a primary example. However, with the developer of IKVM stepping down this has created a possible future risk.
sli 9y ago
It also doesn't help that almost 100% of the time, when I'm Googling for docs, I get sent to a page for something deprecated that may or may not still exist in the version of .NET I'm using. It seems like more often than not, I have to really hunt for up-to-date information, and even then I'm never really sure. MS direly needs to do some SEO work on MSDN. That and the alarming amount of mixed information you get on whether or not using X is a better idea than Y, for ill-defined (from all angles, including MS), deprecation-related reasons. At least that was my experience a couple weeks ago when I got placed on a one-off .NET project. I'll admit that I'm not terribly experienced with .NET's standard library. But I am very familiar with C# as a language and I'm comfortable using it. It was rather frustrating for the stumbling block to be what it was.