C# vs Java. Learn the difference between the C# and Java.

C# is a high-level modern programming language to develop a wide range of complex applications and implement the concepts of object-oriented programming easily. It is primarily strong in developing native windows applications and web. Historically Java was an object-oriented programming language that enables developers to write once and run anywhere programs that not dependent on any particular platform but this is now also available for C# programmers with the advent of Xamarin and .net core. In this C# vs Java comparsion we will give you an overview of which programming language is best for your career path or your next project.

Language Usage Statistics

According to the Popularity of Programming Language (PYPL), which reports the popularity of programming languages based on how many times users, have searched for tutorials. Java is ranked as the second top programming language, whereas C# comes at fourth place in popularity.

Basic History of C#

Microsoft Corporation introduced the first version of C# i.e. 1.0 in 2002 as a part of the .NET framework. Anders Hejlsberg along with his development team, created the language that was later accepted by Ecma (ECMA-334) in 2002 and ISO (ISO/IEC 23270) in 2003. Initially, they named it as Cool (C-like Object Oriented Language), and later it was named after a musical notation due to trademark issues. Microsoft is doing continuous efforts to bring innovative and new features in C# language. After version 7.0, C# team released three more small versions to accommodate some new features in the language. C# version 8.0 is the latest major release that specifically targets .NET Core and enables the developers to create cross platform applications.

Basic History of Java

Java has a very interesting history as it was initially designed for television industry. In 1995, James Gosling developed Java language at Sun Microsystems. Mike Sheridan and Patrick Naughton also joined him to take part in the development of this language in the early 1990s. Initially, they named it as ‘Oak’, which was a tree outside their office, but later they renamed it to ‘Green’ and then decided to rename it again and changed it to Java inspired by Java coffee from Indonesia. In 1996, Sun Microsystems published it for the public with the promise of ‘Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA)’. Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems in January 2010 to support both hardware and software product lines made by the Sun. As of now, Java 8 and Java 11 are considered as Long Term Support (LTS) versions. The latest stable version is 15, released in September 2020.

Syntax

C# Syntax

In c#, you can use the following code to print a text in the program:

// This is the standard library used to access basic classes and method in C# 
using System; 
// Namespace is used to organize code and serve as a container for .NET classes 
namespace MyCSharpApplication
// Beginning of block code
{
     // Call the functionality and methods are inside the class 
     class Program
     {
         // Anything which is inside the curly braces, will be executed when the program is loaded
         static void Main(string[] args)
         {
            // Console is a part of System namespace and is used to access basic operations in Console Applications
            Console.WriteLine("This is my first program in C#!");    
         }
     }
// Ending of block code
}

Java

In Java, you can use the following code to print a text in the program:

// This is the standard library used to access basic classes and method in Java
using System; 
// package is used to organize classes and prevent conflicts 
package MyJavaApplication
// Beginning of block code
{
  // Call the functionality and methods are inside the class 
  class Program
  {
   // Anything which is inside the curly braces, will be executed first when the program is loaded
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       // Print the text using the standard library of Java package
        System.out.println ("This is my first program in Java!");     
    }
    // Ending of block code
}

Memory Management

C#

In C#, Garbage Collector (GC) allocates and releases memory on heap automatically in the .NET applications. Common Language Runtime (CLR) allocates a region whenever an application creates a new object or an instance and always keeps the object graph updated to show the reachable or rooted objects by continuously checking them on the heap.

Java

Java also has a Garbage Collector, which is responsible to make memory available when there is no object reference holding it and manages the memory without the intervention of programmer.

Cross Platform

C#

C# is now a cross platform with the .NET Core framework. Microsoft introduced the newer version of the .NET framework in 2016, which is compatible with Windows, Linux and MAC operating systems.

Java

Java is an independent platform language. JVM executes the compiled bytecodes without the need of writing code for every platform.

Performance

• Overall C# processing performance is better than Java.
• Java typically consumes more memory and in memory constrained devices, it gets slower for this reason.
• In Java, the process of garbage collection is significantly better than the Common Language Runtime of C#.
• Java provides a better performance in I/O socket programming than C#.
• Key Differences between C# and Java

Programming Paradigm:

C# is a multi-paradigm programming language, which provides the implementation of object oriented, component oriented, functional and strong typed. On the other hand, Java is a strictly object oriented programming.

Runtime Environment:

C# runs on Common Language Runtime (CLR), whereas Java runs on different environments, i.e. Java Runtime Environment (JVM).

Installation:

The .NET framework provides many libraries to be used by C# language, whereas, Java requires Java Development Kit (JDK) to run.

Pointers:

In C#, you have access to pointers in unsafe mode, whereas Java does not support the use of pointers.

Overloading:

C# provides the flexibility of over loading the functions i.e. having a same function name, but different parameters in it, whereas Java does not support it.

Arrays:

In C#, arrays are a direct specialization of the System, whereas Java arrays are a specialization of Object.

Unions and Structures:

Java does not support the unions and structures, whereas C# does support both of them.

Conditional Compilation:

Java does not provide a conditional compilation, whereas C# supports that.

Advantages and Disadvantages of C#

Advantages:

• It supports the Language-Integrated Query (LINQ).
• It has a strong memory backup, therefore no issues in memory leakage.
• It provides backward compatibility.

Disadvantages:

• It comes with the .NET framework, but not as a standalone compiler.
• It does not provide access to interact with the hardware through drivers and firmware.
• It has a poor Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Advantage and Disadvantage of Java

Advantages:

• It provides an excellent performance in its applications.
• It is a platform independent language.
• It has a great networking capability of developing distributed computing applications.

Disadvantages:

• It requires high memory and resources to process the requirements in application.
• It does not support low-level access to pointers.
• It does not have the flexibility of manually releasing unused memory.

Which You Should Learn First C# or Java?

• It is relatively hard to answer this question as it can vary based on the requirements, but the best way to learn any language is to make projects on it.
• If you are interested in learning object-oriented programming only, then you should start with Java.
• If you are interested in making applications with minimum time and effort, then you must start with C#, as it is easy to learn because of its simplicity.

Project Use-Cases for C# and Java

With the revolutionary changes in the development of C# language, C# is now widely used in game development, web applications and portals, and ecommerce industry.
Java is more efficient in creating desktop applications, data visualization, and distributed systems. It also provides the flexibility in making BigData applications.

Final Thoughts

C# is a multi-paradigm programming language, which includes object-oriented, component oriented, functional and procedural programming. Ecma and ISO approves it as a standard language, hence makes it easier to learn and understand it. It comes as a part of Microsoft Visual Studio to develop any application, but it is particularly strong in developing windows application. Java is purely an object-oriented programming and it enables the programmer to run the application on any platform. It supports many devices such as ATMS, smart phones, cameras, etc. Java compiler converts the program into bytecode and then translates into machine code to run on any platform with any compatible Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Whereas in C#, CLR compiles the code into managed code (MSIL) and Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler converts source code into native machine instructions to execute the commands. They both have advanced memory management techniques and support the checked and unchecked exceptions in applications.

The selection of the language and tools depend on several factors like the requirements of an application, usage of an application, target audience and platform. Both languages can be a good choice if chosen right.