[duncan]

Can anyone who knows C# and C++ well summarise the differences for me please. I know C++ but have just been given a big fat Visual C#.Net book and don't want to spend a lot of time finding out if it isn't a particularly good language etc..

Appreciate any info. on pro's and cons.....

[TheHeadFL]

Its a lot like Java... but with most of the good features of C++.

Honestly, itll take you 20 minutes to pick up most of the differences, tops.

The biggest thing is that all the "standard libraries" are used in hierarchical form now. Eg... System.Console.WriteLine() etc.

[fuller9779]

microsoft basically stole java added some stuff and named it c#. if you know java you will pick up on c# quickly.

there's alot of subtle differeneces but the large differences that i can think of right now are:

everything in c# is an object. even the primitive types like int, double, float, etc are objects.

like java there are no pointers. there are references to objects. however c# allows you still use pointers if you want...

like java, c# has a garbage collector. so u don't have to write destructors to clean up dangling pointers and such.

u can use all the .net classes microsoft provides. such as collections. which if you know java are great!

the pro would be the language is much like java plus some! plus it has all the microsoft magic.

the only cons would be it is microsoft and it costs money.

[shdwsclan]

To add to and clear up the previous post.

There are really no cons to C#.
C# is a very versatile, high level language that really put c++ to shame. J#, or java demonstrated OOP as it should be. Unfortuantely, java is an interpreted language.

C# is a blend of all the previous programming languages including cobalt and fortran. C# has removed the need for other compiled programming languages. C# is derived a lot from java and many programmers(like me) who were started off in java will find C# as a cozy home. Using the + as a concoconator(i think thats how you spell it) and plus sign would probably be the final java touch.

Microsoft does not own C#, same with b,vb,c,c++,c#.
C# is free, as every library is free because it has to be.
All programming languages are free.

Microsoft,apple,linux,delphi....all provide an ide and compiler.
There are definetly more provides, there are even free compilers and IDEs.

The misconception that microsoft owns C# but thats like saying britain owns english and we need to pay to speak it.

The truth is that microsoft provides the most popular IDE and compile and the IDE is very crappy(especially if you have used eclipse).

Delphi is also very popular.