Reply to: c#, java or python

[rsingh]

Knowing a little bit about your current contract , I'd suggest c#. It's used quite heavily for creating Excel add-ins. I'd choose it over vb.net as it is used more in the city. It also gives you exposure to vsto.

Do you do much database work? It might be worth looking into Oracle or sql server. There are free versions available on their websites.

Good luck

[lightng]

.NET is not a programming language.

NSS

[d000hg]

.NET is not a programming language.

Java can be a language or a programming platform (like .net) though. JSP/JSTL/EL are not Java language but are part of J2EE, Jython and JRuby are JVM languages with Java, very similar to C#, VB.net on .net.

Nothing is simple these days

[SupremeSpod]

This explains all ...

.NET vs Java video

.NET is not a programming language.

[lightng]

Java vs .NET

This explains all ...

.NET vs Java video

[d000hg]

Though with MS also jumping on the HTML5 bandwagon you have to question the long term commitment to Silverlight.

I wonder if they're secretly planning to build the .NET runtime and languages directly into the browser, so you can use C# on the client with the HTML5 DOM instead of Javascript. That'll upset the standards people.

Well firstly HTML5 doesn't replace Flash or Silverlight anyway. Secondly if they integrate .net into the browser, that's pretty much Silverlight anyway except Silverlight is cross-platform.

I don't even know what WCF is, but I bet it's just another new way of doing exactly what people have been doing for years.

On that basis, nothing is new. WCF is about talking to other applications on the same or other PCs... in which case yes the concept of RPC has been around for ages but that doesn't mean a new technology adds nothing new. Webservices are just HTTP, JSP is just machine-written HTML, etc.

No modern technology platform doesn't innovate... certainly Java doesn't anyway what with transitions between servlets/jsp/jstl/struts/EJB/spring

[fullyautomatix]

Though with MS also jumping on the HTML5 bandwagon you have to question the long term commitment to Silverlight.

I wonder if they're secretly planning to build the .NET runtime and languages directly into the browser, so you can use C# on the client with the HTML5 DOM instead of Javascript. That'll upset the standards people.

I don't even know what WCF is, but I bet it's just another new way of doing exactly what people have been doing for years.

WCF, WF etc are Microsoft jargons introducing some technology or architecture that developers were using for years, only MS now decided that only they know how to do it and released it with some fanfare. Of course it doesnt stop companies advertising job vacancies to add it to their advert. Remoting was one such thing. Current favourite is Lambda.

[VectraMan]

but Silverlight is gathering pace.

Though with MS also jumping on the HTML5 bandwagon you have to question the long term commitment to Silverlight.

I wonder if they're secretly planning to build the .NET runtime and languages directly into the browser, so you can use C# on the client with the HTML5 DOM instead of Javascript. That'll upset the standards people.

I don't even know what WCF is, but I bet it's just another new way of doing exactly what people have been doing for years.

[d000hg]

SQL is an area MS have historically been very fickle on. So I'll not bet against new tech there. However think about how long COM was around for. WCF has been around a few years now after being planned and I've not yet heard a replacement is in the works, even.
WPF seems a little up in the air but Silverlight is gathering pace.

[fullyautomatix]

WCF is still a big thing, mainly because there's not much alternative - they're trying hard to kill COM and I think they're winning (phew), and Remote Objects are dead too... WCF actually seems pretty sweet although nobody seems to use WF very much outside massive integration projects.

What about Linq to SQL and its new avatar ADO.NET entity object model ?

I cannot see WCF, WF etc lasting long.

[d000hg]

MS come out with some new fangled paradigm in every .NET version. They made a big fuss out of WPF, WCF and WWF and suddenly all the job adverts wanted folks with WCF experience. I am not surprised WPF is dead but it definitely had its advantages.

WCF is still a big thing, mainly because there's not much alternative - they're trying hard to kill COM and I think they're winning (phew), and Remote Objects are dead too... WCF actually seems pretty sweet although nobody seems to use WF very much outside massive integration projects.

[d000hg]

Java is good if you like everything to be free and open source, and enjoy sifting through 100 libraries that do almost-but-crucially-not-quite the same thing.

Not really. Java has a huge set of standard libraries roughly comparable with .NET, plus standards for all the extended stuff in J2EE. But then on top of that you've all the open-source stuff... however every language has this, Java just more so. The Apache libraries and a few others are practically standard though, it's the random OS projects you find that are not great because they aren't mature.

C# is good if you prefer just 1 library and don't mind spending a grand or so on upgrading every couple of years to find out what sloppy feature they've added to the language this time. (we've had implicit typing, and now dynamic typing. It's only a matter of time before they decide declaring variables at all is for uptight squares, dude).

Again, there are open libraries for .NET. And you don't have to upgrade .NET versions, nothing wrong with 2.0 or 3.0. And they haven't changed variable typing, they've let you use BOTH styles. And you don't have to buy the expensive version, the Express one is sufficient of the majority of projects.

[doodab]

Java is good if you like everything to be free and open source, and enjoy sifting through 100 libraries that do almost-but-crucially-not-quite what you need

FTFY

[thunderlizard]

Python is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

Python does have its adherents (do they still all meet up in the Old Bank of England every month??), but I'm not one of them. Any language where indentation has syntactic force is taking the mickey. I think that most people would agree that going into Python as a career would have to be for aesthetic rather than commercial reasons.

Java is good if you like everything to be free and open source, and enjoy sifting through 100 libraries that do almost-but-crucially-not-quite the same thing.

C# is good if you prefer just 1 library and don't mind spending a grand or so on upgrading every couple of years to find out what sloppy feature they've added to the language this time. (we've had implicit typing, and now dynamic typing. It's only a matter of time before they decide declaring variables at all is for uptight squares, dude).

[fullyautomatix]

MS come out with some new fangled paradigm in every .NET version. They made a big fuss out of WPF, WCF and WWF and suddenly all the job adverts wanted folks with WCF experience. I am not surprised WPF is dead but it definitely had its advantages.