Abstract

Java programmers must be aware of the advent of C#, the .NET network environment, and a host of new supporting technologies, such as web service. Before taking the big step of migrating all development to a new environment, programmers will be eager to understand what are the advantages and disadvantages of both languages and whether it is worth while to make the big step or not. Java and C# are both good object-oriented programming languages. In general, Java and C# looks astonishingly alike: they include language features like single inheritance, interfaces, nearly identical syntax, and compilation to an intermediate format. However, C# distinguishes itself from Java with language design features borrowed from C++ and other languages, direct integration with COM (Component Object Model), and its key role in Microsoft's .NET Windows networking framework. In this report, I will compare both languages to expose the similarities and differences between them. Some new features in C# which make it interesting for Java programmers are also discussed in this paper.