Arguments for using .NET instead of Java in a university environment

Question

My university is (to my dismay) fully entrenched in the Linux side of software development, with Java typically being the language of choice for most instructors. One of my classes this semester required the book Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4 Platform. I was so excited to finally have a class based around C#. First day of class the instructor said we could return that book because he was going to use a Java book instead.

Java isn't that bad by any means, but with what little experience I have, using C# in Visual Studio seems SO MUCH BETTER! Visual Studio seems to have so much to offer (ASP.NET, Silverlight, a great debugger, ect.) and with Mono I cannot see any reason for instructors to keep pushing Java instead of Visual Studio and related .NET technologies. Additionally most students (like myself) grew up with Windows, not Linux. I like learning new stuff, but I hate having to re-learn all the command prompt commands in Linux... and don't even get me started on VI (another favorite of my instructors).

What arguments should I use to convenience my instructors to at least try teaching .NET in a Windows environment?

Answer 1

.NET is more current. And you don't need take my word for it:

http://www.thoughtworks.com/sites/www.thoughtworks.com/files/files/tw-radar-april-2010.pdf

That being said, Java reduces the overhead/added complexity of the Microsoft IDE. NEVER in your programming career should you let yourself think "I don't want to learn/re-learn"...every year, a new language/tool/technology comes out, that will help you improve your productivity.

Answer 2

Think about it this way: you don't like Java, so you're not likely to learn it on your own. On the other hand, you do like C# and .Net, so you'll probably learn it by yourself anyway.

They're not that different anyway, conceptually. And knowing both will make you a better all-around professional.

As for Windows vs Linux: you'll need both in your career (yes, even if you choose to work on .Net, you'll very likely have to use Linux some time) so you'll have to learn Linux anyway sooner or later.

Answer 3

You should tell them to teach you LISP.

And then Haskell, Java, Erlang, C and a bunch of different stuff. That will make you a programmer, not just a C# hacker.

Answer 4

you won't find Java hard to use. Windows + Eclipse. (my favorite is IntelliJ tho)

people are hostile towards MS, the evil empire. but now Java is under the control of Oracle, another evil empire, we'll see how the sentiment goes.

as of today, Java community is still bigger, more open and sharing, innovative while uniting.

both languages are becoming very bloated in a feature arm race. they are not fit for education.

Answer 5

I have no dog in this fight, as I dont particularly care for Java or C#. But, for starters, to teach a system, one's instructors should actually know it. And its pretty clear that your instructors dont know .NET. So its probably a good thing they are sticking to what they know and teaching Java well vs teaching .NET poorly.

Its far more important you learn the basics of coding, and not focus on 'using' the flavor of the week IDE/tool. By the time you get out of college, there will be some other must-use technology anyways. Also, you say you want to use Windows because thats what you grew up with. To me, that sounds like exactly why you should be working in Linux - what are you learning if you stay tied to Windows? Learn as many different languages and systems as you can and you'll begin to truly understand their similarities. That will make you flexible in picking up new technologies - something you'll need in your career.

Answer 6

In my point of view .NET has a strong advantage in user interface programming with WPF. In education I would like to see more use of functional programming, and I think that F# on .NET will be more successful in the industry than Scala for the Java platform will be. However the two languages that would be good to have academic experience from is Haskell and Erlang, so it's not only .NET vs Java.

Answer 7

Why go to school in the first place if you are not ready to learn things outside your comfy scope ?

There is a good chance you will have to work with Linux sooner or later, so you have got even MORE reason to learn it as you come from a windows background (not the other way around!). Even if you don't get to work with it in the future, it will have been a mind opening experience.

As for C#, teaching wise, it's not so much different than Java, so why should your teachers change all their courses ? And pay for windows' licenses ? What's important is learning an object-oriented language, as well as other ones for good measure, not play with your a priori language of choice.

Answer 8

First your post can easily start flamewar. Don't use SO MUCH BETTER when comparing .NET to Java or VS to Java IDE. I'm .NET developer but I was fascinated with IntelliJ IDEA IDE so the reason why you are so excited is that you haven't seen too much yet.

To your question. When I was student at university we were facing similar problems. Our instructors moved everything from Pascal and C/C++ to Java. But we had small group of instructors who were interested in MS technologies and they started to lecture Win API and .NET. They were also able to get MSDNAA for our university which was important milestone. If you want to teach people MS technologies you need licences for them. I became first MSP (Microsoft Student Partner) at our university and I was responsible for spreading this posibility among students. Later on more studens became interested in MS technologies and all lecturers allowed students to make choice between Java and .Net for their course work. Lectures were still hold in prefered platform for instructor. The only exception were classes directly related to some platform or programming language.

The most important lesson from this story is: If you want to learn programming language / platform you still need to do it in your free time. Lectures will provide you overview and theory but not the practice. That is the reason why we were allowed to do course work in platform of our choice.

Answer 9

To be honest i think that it's most likely a desire on your university's part to remain platform neutral, which i think is a fairly solid reason.

Of course they could plump for many languages other than Java, i personally would have preferred my university to go with C++, but it depends on the type of course you're doing. If it's a straight up computer science course that is going to be heavy on programming, then C++ would probably be a better bet, but for course that are 'Information systems' or some other programming light course then Java is an easier language to learn.

Like others have said, there's nothing stopping you from learning c# on the side, that's what i did. My final year project is a .net one, which i will get virtually no help from my tutors on language specific questions, but computer science concepts are portable across languages, so i will get some help.

Answer 10

I'd say it depends on what you're trying to learn. If the class is about distributed, web-based communication, .NET is arguably stronger because WCF makes it really easy to create and consume a variety of services. You could also argue that since many of the features of .NET are going to be in the next version of Java (lambda notation & closures, e.g.), teaching those principles might give students a head start in either language.

On the other hand, if the classes are teaching "programming" and software development generally, I think Java is actually a much better learning environment. It's easier to give someone an exercise that shows their understanding of how object-oriented programming and the memory model work, without having LINQ, dynamic variables, and such get in the way. The syntax tends to be more explicit (no "var" keyword), which can help beginners to understand where the problem is more quickly. At the moment, near where I live, there are plenty of positions open for developers generally, but more for Java developers than for .NET. It's also free, cross-platform compatible, and it has a strong open source community, all of which means a lot to professors.

So unless you take a class where the .NET framework would be particularly appropriate (Xbox game development, e.g.), you probably shouldn't plan on convincing your professors to teach .NET.

Answer 11

If you know vi and/or emacs, your life will be easier. They're everyday tools. If you want to code for a living, it's best if you do get exposure to Linux; otherwise, half of the jobs or more, you won't be able to do.

Mono isn't used commercially nearly as much as the JVM.

If you want "current", you'd be better off arguing for Ruby, or something supersupernew. Java still has more developers working with it than C#, so it's arguable Java is the best choice there.

If the choice of language matters that much... you're in a bad program. The idea isn't to learn the languages, but the concepts that make them go. Learn some Java, learn Eclipse, and then you'll be able to speak more authoritatively about the differences in IDEs.