Examples where is Java more elegant than C#?

Question

It's been a couple of years since I last worked with Java. Can you tell me what problems can be solved more elegantly in Java?

I am aware of the following benefits of Java:

• Java 'runs everywhere',
• Java has support for units and measures
• (supposedly) better latency in Java
• J2EE (I don't think there is an equivalent in .Net)
• different approach to generics (with odd circular definitions such as "Enum>", see Ken Arnold)

What about generics - are there elegant Java examples that cannot be represented in C#? Or other APIs or libraries?

Thanks,

Jiří

P.S. some general links:

• Wikipedia comparison article
• Comparing Java and C# Generics - Jonathan Pryor's web log

Answer 1

Java generics are very different to C# generics. And yes, there are places where that means it can be more elegant - usually in terms of wildcarding and variance. On the other hand, wildcarding is generally poorly understood (and I very definitely include myself in that camp) and the whole business of type erasure means that in general I far prefer .NET generics.

A rather different place where Java "wins" IMO is its enum support. C# enums are basically named numbers - Java is much more object oriented. A similar effect can be mostly achieved in C# using nested classes, but more framework support (an equivalent to EnumSet) and switch support would be welcome.

I also like the ability to restrict visibility to a package (namespace) in Java - although this is the only side of Java's access rules that I prefer to C#.

Having used both Java and C# pretty extensively for a number of years, my own feeling is that on the language level C# is far, far ahead of Java. Really, good cross-platform support and a large existing codebase are the only two significant advantages Java has over C# and .NET at this point.

Answer 2

What does "better latency" even mean in this context?

Other than that, I agree with Jon Skeet. On the whole, C# is lightyears ahead of Java. There are a few tricks in Java that are neat (enums for example), but they're very much the exception, not the rule.