Hi Ken, First, you are right. C# .net is much much easier than C++ to learn. There are a number of good reasons why it has replaced Visual Basic in academic circles as the new beginners programming language. I'll list some of the main ones below.
Garbage Collection --- In C and C++ it was always necessary to do your own memory management and your own garbage collection. If you initialized a pointer you had to properly destroy it or cause memory leaks and errors. With C# .net the .net runtime has built in garbage collection that frequently cleans up unused memory etc allowing you to write more stable and error free code.Of course, it is still a good idea to do your own garbage collection, but the garbage collecter is a nice safety net you don't have with C++. String Handling --- In C++ there are a number of character string types that makes it difficult to cast one type of string to another. Since Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 use unicode you often find yourself in the position of casting strings between ansci and unicode. Since C# .net uses the System.String class the .net framework handles these types of conversions automatically for you. This makes it several times easier when ever you need to pass a string to a function and you have no idea of what string data type the function requires. Rapid Development --- Like Visual Basic C# .net was designed to rapidly create software through a simple point and click interface. You can create forms, buttons, list boxes, and other GUI controls simply by dragging and dropping objects from the C# .net toolbox. Obviously, this is one of the features that made Visual Basic so popular in the late 90's and now is available in all the Visual Studio languages. Software Portability --- As with Java and other runtime languages C# .net software is quite portable. If you use a cross-platform compatible design, such as Mono, you can build and run C# .net applications on Mac OS, Linux, and Windows with very little issues porting between platforms. This makes it easier for a developer like yourself to create software for Mac and Linux without owning and/or using the target platform yourself. Reserved Words --- Unlike a lot of other languages C# .net only has a small handful of reserved words for the language. This makes learning and using the language much easier than other triditional programming languages as Microsoft did a fair job of trying to keep it simple stupid while at the same time offering developers a powerful programming language that meets their needs. C-Style Syntax --- C# .net, as the name implies, is a member of the C family of languages. The advantage here is that many tech schools, colleges, and universities use C# .net as an introductory course in preparation for teaching Java, C++, and other more advanced C based languages. Unlike Visual Basic learning C# .net will help you as a programmer get the fundimentals of C, C++, Java, etc and if you ever choose to learn them C# .net will give you an introductory foundation to work from. Second, I've looked at Sharp Develop. Although, admitedly my experience is pretty limited. Most of the time I either use Visual C# 2008 on Windows, or if I'm on Linux I use Monodevelop. I happen to like Monodevelop myself, and it is pretty accessible with Orca which makes me happy. Cheers! On 1/30/11, Ken the Crazy <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Tom and all, > If you would port Heli to c.net, I will, grudgingly, learn the language. > (Oh I can't believe I'm actually saying this! LOL) > I know that c.net isn't nearly as difficult as vanilla C, so maybe it won't > be so hard to wrap my peewee brain around lol. > Second, have you had any experience with Sharp Develop? The IDE seems > totally accessible, and one of their claims is to be able to translate > vb.net to c.net and vice versa. Any thoughts? > > Ken Downey > President > DreamTechInteractive! > And, > Blind Comfort! > The pleasant way to experience massage! > It's the Caring > without the Staring! --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
