Which is the best for Academic Project (.NET - C# / ASP.NET / VB.NET) or Java ?

net4hack

As part of my masters I need to do an academic project. But left s/w development years back and is now in IT Support for last couple of years.

Which would be the best language for european software development market these days? I have .NET (C#) in mind. Is it the best to get a job under the current economic climate or shall I go for ASP.NET, VB.NET or Java?

Lots of roumours spreading about Java's future since it is in Oracle's hand now considering the the fate of Open Office. Also it seems a bit tough to learn it after coming back to s/w side!

Any help greatly appreciated.

net4hack

Malice

More information about the project is needed. For example, if it's not a web-based application then you won't be using ASP.NET.

As for Java being tough to learn, its syntax is broadly similar to C# so you may find that just as tough.

Personally I've never been a fan of VB.NET's wordy syntax and I've an irrational dislike of Java so my recommendation would be to do it in C# .

ldwdub

Firstly you need to think about what type of application you want to develop i.e. web app, desktop app, mobile app, server-side app etc?

Once you have narrowed it down, you can then start to look at what you want to achieve with your app...user interaction, data storage etc....this will allow you to identify the functionality you will require from a language.

For me, programmable logic and understanding how to implement your requirements is much more important than chaining yourself to any one language. Once you have these nailed it can often be a case of just establishing the correct syntax and control flows.

net4hack

I have only choosen the backend- SQL Server 2008

Java at the moment has great demand. But since for my honours I choose ASP, learning java from scratch demands more time and effort than what i actually have.

Prefer a server side s/w. Some of the project topics I have in mind is an ADServer (ASP.NET) / ATM Machine s/w etc.

Is any one using VB.NET for development here? I have seen mostly C#.NET.

Also I think if you have C#.NET that could be used for web app development as well. Right?

Malice

Microsoft's naming conventions are a bit confusing. VB.NET and C# are distinct languages that run on the .NET Framework. ASP.NET is a web-application framwork. In an ASP.NET web-application you can write your server-side logic in any supported .NET language. That generally means VB.NET or C# but there are others.

From what you've written it sounds like you're looking to develop a web-based application using SQL Server as the database. In that case I would recommend sticking with .NET as they are both Microsoft technologies and there are classes available specifically to interface with SQL Server in the System.Data.SqlClient namespace.

I would also heed ldwdub's advice. Nail down your requirements now. Personally I'd have decided on what I wanted to implement long before I'd have started thinking about how I would implement it.

TrueDub

net4hack wrote: »

I have only choosen the backend- SQL Server 2008

Java at the moment has great demand. But since for my honours I choose ASP, learning java from scratch demands more time and effort than what i actually have.

Prefer a server side s/w. Some of the project topics I have in mind is an ADServer (ASP.NET) / ATM Machine s/w etc.

Is any one using VB.NET for development here? I have seen mostly C#.NET.

Also I think if you have C#.NET that could be used for web app development as well. Right?

Frankly, the above questions don't really arise until you've decided what the project is meant to achieve. This decision will drive a lot of other choices.

rambutman

Personally I think looking past the project into the long term is more important. I take it the reason you did the course was to improve your employment prospects?
I'd go for C# to be honest. There's plenty of work in that field.

C#, VB.NET and Java can all be used to achieve the same tasks at the end of the day

Naikon

Malice wrote: »

More information about the project is needed. For example, if it's not a web-based application then you won't be using ASP.NET.

As for Java being tough to learn, its syntax is broadly similar to C# so you may find that just as tough.

Personally I've never been a fan of VB.NET's wordy syntax and I've an irrational dislike of Java so my recommendation would be to do it in C .

YetAnotherSoulDestroyingHorriblyVerboseBufferedReader reader = new YetAnotherSoulDestroyingHorriblyVerboseBufferedReader(new FileReader(path)

In the end, it's the algorithms that matter the most. Choice of Lang should be based on what you are comfortable with, not which has the "best" career prospects. A lang is just a medium of expression. Nothing more, nothing less.

net4hack

Naikon wrote: »

In the end, it's the algorithms that matter the most. Choice of Lang should be based on what you are comfortable with, not which has the "best" career prospects. A lang is just a medium of expression. Nothing more, nothing less.

When I looked upon s/w jobs at jobs.ie, irishjobs etc most of the jobs are java based. At these difficult times no one could afford to make a costly mistake by not learning what is in demand. Also I am not a good self learner, I might need some help from expert hands. So I think getting the pulse of the s/w dev industry really is impotant.

dvpower

Naikon wrote: »

In the end, it's the algorithms that matter the most. Choice of Lang should be based on what you are comfortable with, not which has the "best" career prospects. A lang is just a medium of expression. Nothing more, nothing less.

I dunno. You might be very confortable with COBOL but there aren't too many jobs available in that anymore.

On Java vs .NET languages, both probably have a very bright future with plenty of jobs available. On a choice between VB.NET and C# I'd probably go for C# (although I mostly use VB.NET myself).

Dave!

It seems I made the wrong choice learning PHP

Webmonkey

Dave! wrote:

t seems I made the wrong choice learning PHP

Not really. Learn to do it object oriented and don't have lazy code and you should have a good chance going over to Java or something easy enough.

fergalr

net4hack wrote: »

As part of my masters I need to do an academic project. But left s/w development years back and is now in IT Support for last couple of years.

Which would be the best language for european software development market these days? I have .NET (C#) in mind. Is it the best to get a job under the current economic climate or shall I go for ASP.NET, VB.NET or Java?

Lots of roumours spreading about Java's future since it is in Oracle's hand now considering the the fate of Open Office. Also it seems a bit tough to learn it after coming back to s/w side!

Any help greatly appreciated.

Your post confused things, because your post title asked one question, and the post itself asked a different question.

If you change your post title to:
"Which is the best for jobs (C#,asp.net,vb.net or java?)"
and delete mention of the academic project, it will make more sense to people.


Because most reasonable people would probably choose the language depending on what they have to do in the project.
But I could see why you'd want experience in something you can use commercially.

mewso

Just on the VB.NET thing. I programmed in VB.NET for 10 years, still do when working on apps I did in the past. All of my new apps are in C#. I switched to C# since all the cool kids use it so most code examples out there will be in C# (although MS do a good job of still giving code samples in both language) but more importantly as a web developer there is less of a brain adjustment when switching from writing my server side code to writing javascript. Also in terms of jobs prospective employers also believe only the cool kids do it in C# so they will specify that in job adverts. VB.NET and C# compile into essentially the same thing at the end of the day but don't expect possible employers to understand that or make allowances for it. Regardless I now prefer C# anyway so it matters little why I switched.

net4hack

mewso wrote: »

Just on the VB.NET thing. I programmed in VB.NET for 10 years, still do when working on apps I did in the past. All of my new apps are in C#. I switched to C# since all the cool kids use it so most code examples out there will be in C# (although MS do a good job of still giving code samples in both language) but more importantly as a web developer there is less of a brain adjustment when switching from writing my server side code to writing javascript. Also in terms of jobs prospective employers also believe only the cool kids do it in C# so they will specify that in job adverts. VB.NET and C# compile into essentially the same thing at the end of the day but don't expect possible employers to understand that or make allowances for it. Regardless I now prefer C# anyway so it matters little why I switched.

Many thanks for the advice. I would go with C#.