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> But I think there isn't a viable competitor in the "C, but better" space at the moment. In the Microsoft ecosystem, C# is this. No, C# isn't OS-independent
by T-hawk 16y ago
> But I think there isn't a viable competitor in the "C, but better" space at the moment.
In the Microsoft ecosystem, C# is this. No, C# isn't OS-independent or hardware-independent or HTTP-server independent. It's not meant to be. C# isn't meant to be an abstractly beautiful language like Lisp or highly performant and portable like raw C. And it's not intended to be part of the LAMP free-software stack; it's intended for a business context that can spend a bit of money to make money. (The C# compiler is actually free, though the IDE isn't and of course the underlying Microsoft OS isn't.)
It's C and most of C++ without the foot-shootiness or Java verbosity. For what it is meant to be and for the problem domains that it serves, C# really does make for great productivity. My company and I have used it as our primary language for several years and I like it a lot. Most of the productivity comes from tight integration to external ecosystem elements that make for a useful application, notably MS SQL databases and ASP.NET web servers, all wrapped within a solid IDE. More productivity comes from getting to ignore things like memory allocation and header files which the language just handles for you. Perfect for simply getting things done in a business context when things like price and portability are not a concern. (When they ARE a concern, then by all means use the LAMP stack and C# is not for you.)
- pmjordan 16y agoI think most of what can realistically move to high level languages already has (minus legacy code). Java and VB was the first mainstream wave, C# the second. They're sometimes still lumped in with "systems" programming, but I don't think that's a useful description. As such, when I talk about C++, you can assume I'm excluding situations where a managed, VM'd language would work fine. Calling C# or Java a "better C" is therefore not terribly useful. C is not good at the things C# is good at and vice versa. I use about 6 or 7 different languages on a regular basis, and often the only choice is between C and C++. I'm not sure where you're going with the second paragraph. C and C++ were never popular for general web app development.
- sedachv 16y ago"Perfect for simply getting things done in a business context when things like price and portability are not a concern. (When they ARE a concern, then by all means use the LAMP stack and C# is not for you.)" You've been brainwashed by Microsoft. No one using LAMP cares about price (that much) or portability ('L' is for Linux). Freedom from vendor lock-in (and in this case, a predatory, vengeful vendor) is the biggest practical advantage. Stability and the thing actually fucking working is another (I never enjoyed babysitting Windows servers; do you?). It's also easier to build robust applications with LAMP. Enjoy paying your Microsoft tithe, peasant.