Microsoft's C# public beta hits a high note
Choosing a language for enterprise Windows development isn't as easy as it used to be. C++ has always been the best choice for commercial development, but today's overburdened developers lack the time and patience for C++'s code-compile-debug cycle, made endless by leaks and potholes unwittingly written into the code. Even though Windows C++ programming has gotten easier (what was as unpleasant as a root canal is now a mere poke in the eye), Internet-time scheduling leaves no slack for programmers to fight with their tools.
Compared to C++, Java offers shorter development cycles, safer code, and cross-platform execution. Java is not ideal, being a sharp departure from C++ and generally fitting Windows like a foot in a glove, but Java seems the only smart choice for enterprise projects.
The defection of Windows developers to Java wasn't lost on Microsoft Corp., which hurriedly released a public pre-beta of the .Net SDK (software development kit). This 86MB download is a working preview of what Windows will become, and it includes a compiler for C#, a new programming language pronounced "C sharp."
This Microsoft-devised variant of C++ is relief for beleaguered Windows C++ developers. Unlike C++, and certainly unlike Java, C# provides easy access to native Windows services, including networked objects, UIs, and Internet communication. Like Java, C# greatly enhances stability by preventing common programming errors and automatically managing resources.
If you already know C++, C# is much easier to learn than Java. C# is a standards-track language, managed not by Microsoft but by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA),the same independent body that looks after JavaScript. And although the pre-beta doesn't even hint at it, Microsoft has telegraphed its intent to plant .Net and C# on non-Windows platforms.
Critics warn that C# and .Net are only pre-beta, the merest step beyond vaporware. Even though it is not cleared for production use, we've been working with C# constantly for almost a month, and the pre-beta works better than some shipping compilers we've used. In fact, the compiler works well enough that developers are already swapping C# code on Usenet and Web forums such as csharpindex.com.
What's wrong with C++?
Java's creators are critical of C++'s laissez-faire design, which gives C++ developers a free hand, including
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