4. .NET Languages

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[oR]

Chapter 4. .NET Languages

The Common Language Runtime is explicitly designed to support multiple languages. In general, though, languages built on the CLR tend to have a good deal in common. By defining a large set of core semantics, the CLR also defines a large part of a typical programming language built using it. For example, a substantial chunk of learning any CLR-based language is seeing how the standard types defined by the CLR are mapped into that language. You must also learn the language's syntax, of course, including the control structures the language provides. Yet once you know what the CLR offers, you're a long way down the path to learning any language built on top of it.

Understanding a CLR-based language starts with understanding the CLR

This chapter describes C# and Visual Basic.NET, the most important CLR-based languages. It also takes a brief look at the Managed Extensions for C++ that allow C++ developers to write CLR-based code. The goal is not to provide exhaustive coverage of every language feature that would require three more books but rather to give you a sense of how these languages look and how they express the core functionality provided by the CLR.

What About Java for the .NET Framework?

In the fall of 2001, Microsoft announced Visual J#.NET, an implementation of the Java language built on the CLR. Despite this, I doubt that Java will ever be a viable choice for the .NET Framework. The reason is that even if a Java aficionado chooses to use a CLR-based Java compiler, such as Visual J#.NET, she's unlikely to be truly happy. Java implies a group of libraries and interfaces such as Swing and Enterprise JavaBeans. The .NET Framework provides its own equivalent technologies, so most of these won't be available. As a result, a developer using the Java language on the .NET Framework won't feel like she's working in a true Java environment because the familiar libraries won't be there.

The real target market for Visual J#.NET is Microsoft's existing Visual J++ customers. By providing a migration path to the .NET Framework, Microsoft is helping them move away from a dying product to one with a long future ahead of it. People who believe that Microsoft is truly interested in creating a first-class environment for building new Java applications might also wish to examine their beliefs about Santa Claus.

The battle lines are clear: It's .NET versus the Java world. This is unquestionably a good thing. Those who think everyone should implement Java forget both the dangers of monopoly and the sloth that comes with having no competition. Having two powerful technology camps, each with a strong position, is the ideal world. Each has innovations that the other can learn from, and each provides examples of things to avoid. In the end, the competition benefits everyone.

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