Detailed Comparison of C# and Java Programming Languages: A Report

This report provides a detailed comparison between the programming languages C# and Java. It explores their core characteristics, including object-oriented features and platform dependencies. The report delves into the drawbacks of each language, such as C#'s reliance on the .NET framework and Java's memory consumption. It also discusses the challenges faced by developers when using these languages, including differences in namespace handling, constant declaration, and the handling of enumerated data types and nested classes. The analysis covers key aspects like input/output operations, serialization, memory management, and the use of pointers. The report concludes by summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of each language, offering insights into their suitability for different types of software development projects. The document aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of these two popular programming languages.

Running head: COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
Comparison between Programming languages C# and Java
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1COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
Abstract
The following paper consist of comparison between the two programing languages C# and
java, main characteristics, different drawbacks of this languages.in addition to that, the
challenges faced by the developers while using this languages in developing applications are
also discussed in this report.

2COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
Introduction
Development of the software applications can be done in different programming
languages can be implemented in different programming languages. Each of them has there
advantages and drawbacks and are evolved rigorously from the point they are introduced. The
popularity of the programming languages varies periodically. This popularity mainly depends
on different features of these languages (Such as cross platform operability, ease of
development)1. However, the following list of programming languages usually are the top
ranked languages: C++, C, Java, C#, JavaScript, Perl, Objective-C and PHP.
This paper consist of comparative study of the programming languages Java and C#.
Even though both of them are object oriented programing languages, but there are some
specific characteristics that makes them first choices for the development of specific type of
applications.
Characteristics of the both languages
The following part of this paper contributes to the comparative study of the
languages C# and Java.
C#: In the year 2000, Microsoft announced the C# language along with the .NET
framework. It is an object oriented programming language developed by Microsoft. The
language is developed as a commendable successor to C++ and Visual Basic programing
languages2. It runs inside a specific environment which is called .NET. For C#, the code
written in this language is not interpreted. It is at first compiled in some kind of intermediate
code. In the next stage, the intermediate code is compiled in JIT before the code is executed.
Some other important features of this language are listed below,
1 (Jeff. 2015)
2 (Cheng, et al. 2015)

3COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
In this language, simple input-output or input output related file operations is more
straightforward compared to the Java, and made more intense by introducing code formatting
feature in the .NET framework.
 Objects of different classes can be serialized in either XML or parallel way.
Specifically the XML format is regularly utilized between different programs.
 There is a “Dispose” method available for deterministic control of releasing
the resources (Memory, Processor time) that are held by different classes of a
program.
 In this language the lightweight objects Structs are accessible for the
programs. This objects are assigned on the stack and are not subject to garbage
collection of the program.
 Values of the variables are consequently changed over to objects and vice
versa as required for a specific program.
 The “foreach” keyword helps in providing iteration over different types of
objects created in a program (This iteration process is easier than, the iterators
available in Java).
 Properties are provided by this programming language for all members in a
specific class. For the definition, this language uses “get” and “set” methods.
 Multidimensional arrays are accessible in different forms as required by the
developer. Rectangular arrays represents the contiguous block of memory.
On the other hand the jagged arrays are mainly implemented as vectors of
references to different sub-arrays used in the project.
Java: James Gosling form Sun Microsystem developed and introduced Java in the
year 1990. Even though the language was developed in order to program the home appliances
but presently it is widely used to develop desktop as well secured web applications. Java has

4COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
three unique structures, J2SE (Java2 Standard Edition), J2ME (Java2 Micro Edition), and
J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Version). J2SE is appropriate for the desktop applications. J2ME is
appropriate for implanted frameworks for smart phones, remote application and PDA
programming. At last, J2EE is used for the development of server side programming.
In C#, use of the pointer is only allowed in case the program needs to hold the
memory address of different arrays and value types. On the contrary, for securing the
developed application the in Java, it does not provide support to the use of the single
pointers/pointer-arithmetic operations in the developed programs.
Drawbacks of the languages
For C# it can be sad that it is mainly dependent on the Microsoft’s .NET framework,
thus it can be said that, this programing language is not flexible as it depends on .NET
framework. Deprived of this specific component in C# applications are difficult to implement
on different platforms.
Java is considered as one of the pure object oriented programming languages used by
the developers. It encourages the users to develop project using modular programs so that t
can help in reusability of written code. Java is also open source3. Developers can utilize it for
free on different platforms as it is platform independent too, which is a standout amongst the
most important advantages of Java. Programs written a developed in Java can undoubtedly
executed from one computer to another computer or operating system. With all this
advantages Java additionally has a few disadvantages too.
By different researchers it is found that, Java is a memory-consuming programing
language4. Java is moderate since it has an additional layer between the frameworks and the
system development projects (Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is the extra layer that helps in
3 (Batool, et al. 2015) (Kim, Donghoon and Yi 2014)
4 (Cacho, et al. 2014)

5COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
interoperability on different platforms)5. Anything done by the Java programs must be
executed by the Java Virtual Machine.
Challenges faced by the users
In case of C#, the use of namespace is considered as a way to cluster a collection of
developed classes which is similar to the “package” construct of Java. Developers using the
C++ programing language can easily notice several similarities among the C++ and C#
namespace syntax (Cheng, et al. 2015)6. On the other and in case of Java, the package names
describes the order the directory structure of the source code files in a specific application
whereas for C#, the namespaces does not depict or provide the physical layout of source
code files in the project directories. Rather it only depicts the logical structure of the source
code files in the application.
In order to declare constants in programs in Java language, final keyword is utilized.
This variables can be set in either run time or compile time of the application. In case of the
utilization of the “final” is used for a primitive variable it helps in making the value
immutable when they are used as object references7. Use of the “final” makes the reference
variable to point to a single object in its lifetime. In C# or Java, It is not possible to define an
immutable class through the language constructs. In addition to that, it is also not possible in
java and C# to create a reference variable which is immutable.
In case of java language, enumerated data types are considered as a complete class.
Thus it implies that, this data types are typesafe and developers can extended this data type
by adding different methods in the development of the applications, or even in the
implementations of the interfaces in the classes8. On the other hand, for C#, the enumerated
5 (Kim, Donghoon and Yi 2014)
6 (Cheng, et al. 2015)
7 (Cacho, et al. 2014)
8 (Jeff. 2015)

6COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
data type is a simply syntactic cover around that around the integral data type. Typically this
is an int, which implies that, this data type cannot be extended as well as they are not
typesafe.
For nested classes, this can be implemented at anywhere or in any code block of any
method. This feature is not available in case of the C# language in the .NET programing
environment9.
In Java language every method is virtual while in case of the C#, the programmer had
to explicitly declare a methods to be virtual since in a default scenario they are not virtual
methods. In order to mark a method in a program as virtual developers need to use the virtual
keyword.
Conclusion
At the end it can be stated that, C# is intended for programming in the
Microsoft .NET environment or Framework. This language consist of features which is a mix
of the various other languages while having perfect balance between them. As an example it
can be said that C# consist of concise use of the syntax is used in C is likewise added to this
language. In C# use of syntax is more similar to the Java instead of to C++. Pointer memory
administration in C# is no longer an issue as with the introduction of the garbage collection,
much like Java. Use of the relational database frameworks (RDBMS, for example, Oracle,
Mysql and SQL Server) with C# is much easier compared to other languages using the
connection procedures.
9 (Batool, et al. 2015)

7COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
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8COMPARISON BETWEEN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES C# AND JAVA
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