Java Vs .Net

[Jack]

Which is better Sun Microsystem's Java or Microsoft's .Net technology for software development?
what is the difference between them?

[harry]

It’s quit hard to answer which is better. Both platforms have their pros and cons.
But IMO go for java development as it has many useful features which makes more powerful than .net

* Most important is cross platform computability. Java can be Compiled in One Platform and the object code can be run in Another. This is not the case with .net platform.

*Java run on Multiple Platforms from the Smallest Devices to the Largest Mainframes.
Java program can be implemented at different applications such as, smart cards, embedded devices, cell phones,desktops (MacOS, Linux), servers (Unix based),Mainframes ( IBM ).

* No mandatory upgrades. No subscription fees. No software insurance fees whereas to us .net you have to pay microsoft.
there are many other reasons but these are more than enough.....

[sanderson]

If you are coming from future point of view then software development is now expected to be 50-50 split between Java and .Net. Java and C# are very much identical as programming languages in lot of cases. Only if you are planning to be a system architect then there are huge differences.

As Harry said, "Java has a greater number of mature design tools available.” It is true, but Microsoft will try to change it in the near future with new modeling system integrating direcly in Visual Studio .net IDE.

Right now Java and .Net overlap in a lot of industries and certainly each will form ultimate positions that will be hard to break until the new model-based programming technologies conquest the older one.

So I don’t think I have the perfect answer for the question “which is better”.

[kev woodman]

Web app development or desktop development?

If you're talking traditional software development then I'd avoid Java unless you have a really good reason to use it. Harry's right in saying that Java bit-code is cross platform but that comes at a huge cost in program speed. Programs which are natively compiled on a platform will always out-perform those compiled inside a virtual machine. That's why desktop applications coded in Java are the exception rather than the norm.

Then again if you are programming for the desktop then you should really use C++ or C to get the best performance.

On the Web it's a bit different. Cross-platform issues aren't relevant client-side because all compiling/parsing is done server-side so Java or .NET will still work in any conventional browser on any platform. Harry is again right in saying that Java is available on more devices so if you want something that will work natively (i.e. outside a browser) on a smart phone you're better off using it.
And Java does scale really well. JSP will handle huge enterprise level applications very efficiently while C#.NET is unproven and looks likely to provide lower performance.

On the other hand Java does have some problems. In particular it lacks frameworks to help with RAD and the learning curve can seem very steep - if you're learning Java then you'd better get a really sound grasp of object-oriented principles and design patterns as quickly as you can.

Sorry Sanderson but I have to disagree with your statement that software development will be split equally between Java and .NET. On the desktop languages like C and C++ are going to be hard to shift while on the Web Java is streets ahead of .NET and .NET is facing stiff competition from PHP5/Ruby etc. Personally I think you're much more likely to see a greater diversity in technologies over the next few years than any dominance by one or two languages.

[harry]

Originally Posted by kev woodman

Java bit-code is cross platform but that comes at a huge cost in program speed. Programs which are natively compiled on a platform will always out-perform those compiled inside a virtual machine. That's why desktop applications coded in Java are the exception rather than the norm.

hello kev,
I think java is not that much slow as you think, first of all Java source code is compiled into byte code (.exe file ) then Jre java runtime environment execute (interpret) this bytecode. So for the first time it may take more time to show output but once bugs are fixed then it will run faster next time.

[kev woodman]

Sorry Harry but Java doesn't work like that - the source code is compiled but the class files are effectively compiled every time the program is run inside a virtual machine - it's a just-in-time compiler - languages like C++ work just as you say - they compile into executable files which are native to a single platform and once they have compiled they never need to recompile.

The reason Java is cross-platform is because the JVM disassociates the code from the physical hardware of the machine.

The process works like this:

* the Java compiler compiles .java source files into Java class files with the .class extension;

* at runtime the JVM reads the class files and executes them. But the JVM has to reinterpret these every time.

There is a definite measurable performance hit over other languages which is why you don't see major software releases written in Java.

[harry]

Thanks kev for your guideline, you helped me understand java better.....

[kev woodman]

Wish someone could do the same for me - Java and I have a rocky relationship at best Best language for learning object-oriented programming though.

[Jack]

Thanx kev,
I've got good tips of java from u and definitely it will help me.

[kev woodman]

My pleasure mate - don't take my word for anything though there are loads of resources available for Java and .NET so it's worth spending a couple of hours browsing, particularly if you're going to start learning a language.