₦airaland Forum

10 Reasons Why dotNET Is Better Than Java

This post is prompted by a post by africanboy when he said something like "Java Is Dead" and some people were like attacking him for expressing his view.

I've been a fan of the Java technology for quite some time now. I remember literally copying a Java book when I didn't have the money to buy it.

But one thing I discovered with technology is that it's not always about love but it's more about power.
The bitter truth is when I compare java technology with CLI (popularly known as .NET), I see that Java is less powerfull in many areas.

I'll be using the words CLI and .NET interchangeably refferring to any implementation of the CLI (.NET, Mono or dotGnu)
This are some of my points.

1- In .NET you have a choice of languages to code with (C#,VB.NET, Java,Boo,Python e.t.c), producing the same type of compiled code but in Java one is limited to the java language. One may argue that jython is an alternative, but even the creator of jython who later created it's .NET version called IronPython admitted that .NET is a more powerful technology.

2, NET prgrams run at native speed while java is interpreted which makes java slower.Although java has Just In Time compilation but it stills run slower. With .NET you are not limited to JIT but have the option AOT or ahead of time compilation if you want to eliminate startup delays.

3. Calling native code in java is not a very clean process. You need to generate some stub files which makes the whole process cumbersome and dirty. In .NET you just declare that you are calling a native function from a specified library and just start calling it.

4. .NET languages are richer than Java. They have object oriented feature that are absent in java e.g properties,delegates,generics.

5. Java GUI programs look alien on the host operating system. Even if you use the OS's theme you still notice that the java widgets look out of place.

6. .NET in the form of Mono has brought a whole revolution on the linux desktop in form of great applications like beagle, tomboy, diva, iFolder, banshee e.t.c. This is something that java has failed to do despite the fact that it's been there long
before .NET

7. Many programs that would have been difficult to develop with java have been developed with .NET things like compilers (Mono's C# and VB.NET) 3D game engines (unity game engine) e.t.c

8. The CLI is an open standard maintained by an independent standards organization (E.C.M.A) while java is still governed by SUN microsystems.Even though java has recently been open-sourced, it's future will still be highly influenced by SUN.

9. You can code on the .NET platform using Java but you cannot code on Java platform using any of the .NET languages.

10. Using Mono's IKVM to call java code from .NET or convert java classes to .NET assemblies. This is so efficient that large java programs like the eclipse I.D.E have been runned on .NET.

This is not an exhaustive list but I believe 10 points are enough to send the message.

One more thing, feel free to criticize my views or even flame me.

I disagree with the fact that open source software are always not good enough.
@Sbucareer , I think P/E is not a guage of wether a software is good or bad.

Talking about firebird, I prefer using a product before criticizing it.

The people that use firebird are mostly people that discovered it's power. They chose firebird
because it can do the work very well. They are not victims of promotional campaigns by some
huge corporations.

The following are some organizations that use firebird database

1. US Navy use it in a Broad range of management logistics systems

2. Communicare systems: vendors of medical records software

3. British Rail, for time-tabling, booking, accounting e.t.c.

4. Prague Municipal Library in Czech republic.

5.Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany's largest press agency

6. Distributel: Teleco Service provider in canada. They have real time call information recorded in firebird databases.
All line IDs, service status,customer status are stored in firebird database and that is queried each time a call is made.
The database is also concurrently queried by automatic voice response systems.
And the average call failure is 1 in 99999 calls ( that may not be due to the firebird database)

And all these for free. By the way if you want support there are many companies that offer firebird support.

Discovered Basic(In School) when I was in SS2 and that's my first encounter with a programming language.

Played with Basic a little before suspending programming due to lack of a personal computer

Came back to programming when we wanted to create our own game(3 of us)

Discovered VB6 and found out we can develop more serious things than games. This led to learning SQL and HTML

Migrated to Java for some time before discovering .NET.

In summary I used the following languages

QBasic, VB6, Java, VB.NET , C#, SQL , C/C++(when there is no other alternative)

Hey and apart from QBasic and VB6 which were introduced by tutors, I learned all my programming languages through self training and apprenticeship (right here in Nigeria)

Seun:
You shouldn't store images in a database. You should store them in the filesystem and refer to the filenames in your database. That is easier and also more efficient.

I am of the view that you keep your images along with other data in the database. Poeple keep images in the filesystem simply because they find it difficult to put them in the database.

Although I don't program ASP.NET but I've done it in C# and VB.NET.

Create a BLOB column in the database where you will write the image.

The column expects a binary array so you have to convert your image to a series of bytes you can store in an array.

This is done as follows.

1- Use the image.Save method to save to a memory stream, make sure the you specify the image format to be raw.

2- Copy the memory stream to a byte array

3- Write the array to the column.

to read from the column back to an Image

1- Read the column into a byte array

2- Write the byte array into a memory stream

3- Use the Image.FromStream method to reconstruct back an Image object


I hope this will get you through, though no code snippets are provided.

@MOG, I learned that MATLAB can do that. But I didn't have the time to learn MATLAB but I already know Java then and my supervisor insist on doing everything from scratch.

Anyway in a nutshell, I implemented a 3 layered backpropagation neural network.
The input and output layers have eight neurons each while the middle layer has four neurons.

After training the neural network to a learned state. We were able to input 8-bit binary data, one bit in each neuron and recover the exact data in the output layer.

This means that we are essentially squeezing an 8-bit data into a 4-bit channel ( the middle layer) and recovering it.
In other words compressing it to half it's size and decompressing it.

If you guys are really interested in it, I will serch for the soft copy of the thesis( I sold it on my old desktop) and upload it here.

But don't forget I said that I still consider myself a novice in the field.

@Pain, in the end parts of my thesis, I suggested ways of improving my work. So you can have something to work on without necessarily plagiarising my work.

Hi, I've been using firebird for a little more that two years now.
Talking about installation, nothing could be easier than firebird. Just download the zip form

extract it anywhere on your system

enter the bin directory in the folder.

run install_super.bat or install_classic.bat

and you have a running firebird server on your system. Plus it take only around 8MB of hard disk space.

Talking about ease of use, firebird is the most SQL compliant database so far. It tries to stick to the SQL standards more than any other database. This means that if you know SQl you know firebird.

If you don't like using the commandline interface, you can download either flamerobin or IBEasy. They are good gui tools for administering firebird database.

Another advantage is that you can legally use it even in your commercial products without violating any licence.

I can go on and on. I always say that firebird is the best thing I ever came across in the database world.

Ah, am not against certifications, but I don't want us to take it to be more important than getting the skills.
Most of the time you discover that after getting the skills you find out that the certification is of little importance.
After all it's just another way of making money for the companies(oracle, microsoft, e.t.c).

I don't know of DBAs and Network Admins, but in the programming world, your products speak louder than your certificates. This is because most of the time you use a combination of different technologies in building your solution.

Well Am only telling my point of view.

If you really want/need a certificate go for it, but keep in mind it doesn't make you an expert.

My final year undergraduate project was on artificial neural networks.
Though I still consider myself a novice in the field, but I was able to simulate a
backpropagation neural network that shows you can compress any digital data to half
it's original size.

It was then implemented in the java programming language, but I no longer code in java now,
I was thinking of reimplementing it in C# or VB.NET.

first of all @parosky, you sound like a great programmer/teacher. I'm highly impressed by the pounded yam analogy.

@luckyCO, here's what I think is an easier way of understanding delegates.
Normally one can declare variable of certain types which means you can put any data of that type in that variable.
e.g

Dim I as integer

means you can put any integer value in I.

Delegate are like variable but instead of holding normal values, they hold methods(subroutines or functions in VB)
You can assign any method that has the same signature as the delegate to the delegate.
You can then call the method by calling the "invoke" function of the delegate.

To put it short, delegates are variables that hold subroutine and functions.

In C++ they are called function pointers.

I don't know exactly what you are trying to do, but I know you can import com object into dotNet by using some tools that come with the SDK. try tlbImp ,AxImp or tlbExp.
I can't remember exactly which one of them you need but I'm sure it's one of them. Check the SDK documentation to find out.

Yeah, It's a good book. I've been reading it for some time now. Although I no longer code in java, the ideas can be applied in any object oriented language. I primarily use c# and vb.net now but the book has really helped me improve my coding techniques. Am thinking of creating a small embedded database engine based on the things I learned from the book.

Honestly it's a most read if you really want to be a software engineer and not just a coder.

Hey, I also use blag alongside windows.
To Install a linux operating system, you need at least 2 partition (you can have more).

create one swap partition and one ext3 partitions
The swap partition should be at least twice the size of your ram
the ext3 partition is where your root (symbolized as "/") directory should be mounted.

continue with your install and I believe you wont have any problem.

Although this is the most basic partition arrangement, there are other ways of going about it depending on your preffered setup.

mail me if you want us to talk more on it (aig@linuxmail.org)

in the real world, you need something to back your skills.

Different strokes for different folks.

@akwanashie, sorry I only gave my point of view. Actually I am not an employee, I write programs and sell and sometimes get hired to work on certain projects.

Anyway what will you do when you get employed with a certificate and have no skills. Or are the employers ignorant of what they need ?

Are we talking only about Oracle here or other dbms are welcomed ?
If yes then checkout firebird

I think it's the best thing to happen in the rdbms world.

www.firebirdsql.org

The features and benefits are too many to be listed here.
I've been using it for a couple of years now, if you're interested in it and need any help
just talk to (aig@linuxmail.org)

checkout www.nvu.com

I believe in the programming world, certificate is not much of an issue. The most important thing is your skills. Nobody will buy your programs just because you are certified, but poeple will buy your programs because they are good.
My advice is let's worry less about certificates and more about skills. That's the only way we can develop as programmers.

not only bad practices but laziness.

I think a good programming language should allow you to do much with little(Allow you to be a lil bit lazy).

I don't see any reason why I will spend 5 months doing something with C++ while Basic can do it in one month. Forget about what poeple say and go for what you believe.

Recently I discovered that I can do a lot Visual Basic.NET that I can't do with Java.
It will also be interesting to know that VB.NET supports more object oriented features than Java (properties,delegate, attributes e.t.c)

There is also this variant of basic called freebasic that can do almost everything C++ can do (freebasic.net)

Don't just go for the hype, look deeper and go for what will solve your problem.

just a little correction, RDBMS means relational database management system and not relative database management system.

Try freeBasic (www.freebasic.net), it's as easy as QBasic and as powerfull as C.

Hey, guys, Maybe some of you have heard about things like diskless remote boot linux(DRBL) and Linux Terminal Server(LTS)
With them you can have thin clients regardless of wether your apps are web based or standalone.
You workstation don't even need a harddisk. You just boot into a server over a network.
But as you might have guessed, they are ideal within intranets only.

Please forgive me if it sounds like am raising dust after it has settled. I just want to give some biblical verses for us to ponder on. You don't really have to comment on them.

Talking about Islam ordering for the execution of converts. Look at the orders giving in the bible


"If there is found among you, within any of your towns which the which the Lord your God gives you,
a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant
and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of
heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it; then you should inquire diligently,
if it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done in Isreal, then you should bring forth
to your gates that man or woman who has done that evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to
death with stones"
-Deutronomy 17:2-5


And Stubborn children should be stoned

"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his
mother, and though they chastise him, will not heed to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold
of him and bring him out to the elders of his city,
'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard' then
all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones, "
-Deutronomy 21:18-21

And some of us complained about death sentence being passed for adultery. Check out the bible again

"If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with
the woman and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from isreal"
-Deutronomy 22:22

"If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress
should be put to death"[/b]
-Leviticus 20:10

And those that see amputation as violent

"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better you lose one of
your memebers than that your whole body goes into hell"
-Mathew 5:30


The following verse I included because I discovered there are a few homos on Nairaland. If they still claim to be christians, then they should read the following;

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; and shall
be put to death,their blood is upon them"
-Leviticus 20:13

And if you don't believe beacuase it's in the old testament then look at what Jesus said about the
old testament

"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them
but to fulfil them"
-Mathew 5:17

@TayoD, I always believe that Jesus(PBUH) is a peacefull person just like Muhammad(PBUH)
But some verses in the bible seems to suggest otherwise. Look at these,but please don't tell
anybody I told you of them

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace; but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and daughter against her mother, "
-Mathew 10:34-35

@mlks_baby, I must admit it's interesting discussing with you. I always enjoy such discussions. We can discuss Shintoism,Taoism,Hinduism e.t.c. You know as a Muslim the first command in my religion is "Read".
But unfortunately as a christian woman by participating in this discussion, you have committed a sin
If you don't believe me then check this verse out.

"Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness, permit no woman to teach or to have
authority over men. She is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first then Eve; and Adam was not
decieved but the woman was decieved and became a transgressor.Yet woman will be saved through
bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with modesty"
-1 Thimoty 2:11-15

Or maybe I got the meaning reversed, you know for a person that doesn't have the holy spirit in him .

Look at how women are suppose to behave
"The women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak,but should
subordinate, as even the law says."
-Cor 14:34

@mlks_baby, just a lil question. Tell me have you never sang on top of your voice and danced in the church ?.
But again it may be my lack of the Holy Spirit. Or I may be possessed.Please I need an exorcist.

@TayoD, did you watch the movie "Matrix" ? remember when Morpheous told Neo that;
"I can only show you the door, it's up to you to walk through it".

Well I have shown you the door, but to be completely honest. I personally don't care wether you walk through
it or not. My duty is showing the door and I've done it. (Am a programmer not a preacher and I don't program humans like preachers do) .

I think this debate should end with a statement like this:
"Islam and Christianity Are Indeed Different But Can Once Again Coexist Peacefully As They Have Once Done"

@ISAHO,@ajia23, much respect.

Everybody be cool. Am out.

If this is how you evidence Islamic tolerance towards Christians and Jews, then you should understand that the reverse is even more true: Christians and Jews have been very tolerant and peaceful towards Muslims as evident by the several thousand mosques in the west and the more than 350 million Muslims that live there.

I never knew the western countries were christian and Jewish, I thought they're Secular. Now I know what Goerge Bush means by "Crusade" in a statement he made before invading Afghanistan.

@4get_me, thanx a lot for clearing my ignorance

@mlks_baby, I'm happy to hear that you were once a Muslim but its unfortunate and surprising that Islam doesn't answer most of your questions. Maybe it has to do with the type of questions, you were asking.

Before settling for Islam, I once had so many questions and studied different religions for answers.
Christianity and Islam were the religions I studied most.
To be honest, christianity raised more questions than give answers.

First of all, I discovered that christianity is not for me because I'm not Jewish
for Jesus said:
"I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Isreal"
-Mathew 15:24

Although many christians rely on the following verses for preaching christianity to the whole universe;

"Go therefore and make disciples of poeple of all the nations baptizing them"
-Mathew 28:19

"Go Ye Into The World And Preach The Gospel"
-Mark 16:15

The Sinaitic the vatican no. 1209, the Sinaitic Syriac codex and the Armenian versions
of the fourth and fifth centuries do not contain these passages. In essence the verses
were later added to justify preaching christianity to non jews.


Then I am expected to acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God because of his
Miracilous birth. If that is the case then why will Jesus be special when there
are other children of God before him. Check out the following verses:

"And Thou Shalt Say Unto Pharaoh, This saith the Lord, Isreal Is My Son, Even My First Born"
-Exodus 4:22

God said to David
"I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son; This day I have begotten thee"
-Psalms 2:7

Although many of my christian friends told me that the old testament shouldn't be taken seriously.
If so then check out

", to them gave he power to become the sons of God"
-John 1:12

And to my understanding, the following verse clearly shows that Jesus is not God
and does make mistakes (ie he's not clean) because he is born of a woman.

"How then can man be justified with God?, or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?"
-Job 25:4

The following shows that Jesus worshipped God and therefore can not be God.
", Here, O Isreal: The Lord our God Is One Lord"
-Mark 12:29

Furthermore I have not came across any part of the bible that Jesus declared himself
to be God.

I can go on and on.
The point here is that when studying religion we should open our minds and try to be as objective as possible.

Well, that might just be my point of view.
Please convince me otherwise

if someone converts from Islam, kill him

Please quote the verse.
Note unlike christinanity, Islam is a way of life. Islam to a muslim is like a nationality to a citizen. Poeple get killed for treason. So if you want to convert from Islam, it's as easy as leaving the Islamic territory before converting. A companion of the prophet once did the same. He became a christian after going to Abysynnia. The prophet never sent anybody to kill him.

no other religion is tolerated except Islam

please stop intentionally misquoting the qur'an. The verse goes like this
"The only religion in the sight of Allah is Islam".

Why don't you say this to the Mullahs in Afghanistan who were ready to kill the convert to Christianity. Or do the entire Afghan population represent the deviation and not the norm?

The Taliban deviated from the norms not the Afghans.

Christians did the same thing to their Muslim slaves in America. Muslims were forced to convert to christianity and change names. I remember "Kunta Kinte" was forced to become "Toby".

But I Know that is not the teachings of christianity, it is only what christians do. I expect you to know the difference between the teachings of Islam and what Muslims do.

Not all muslims are good muslims just like not all christians are good christians.

Please I expect a comment about the charter of privilege I qouted which prophet Muhammad made with christians.

Please it should be noted that muslim's view of Islam is not like christian's view of christianity.
In Islam, Prophet Muhammad is considered a leader and a prophet and not "God" unlike christians view of Jesus.
The prophet himself has serveral times reminded his followers that he is human and does make mistakes. Muslims are expected to learn from the Prophet's actions (including how to repent when you have sinned.)

I personally think that Islam is more of a realistic religion. @TayoD do you think a human is designed to be a man of peace at all times ?. I do not believe in unconditional peace, I think it's impractical.

But in christianity this may be a rule, to be unconditionally peacefull. Which no christian is able to uphold. You see where there must be room for forgiveness when you sinned.

In Islam you don't give the other cheek, instead you have the right to slap back but forgiving is more honourable.
I think you will agree with me that this rule is more logical and will be more accepted by the world if a poll will be carried out.

Going back to the issue of differences or similarities between Islam and Christianity, the King Negus when he first heard of Islam from Muslims he later offered protection said that :
If there is any difference between your religion and our religion, then it is the cross

The word cross here refers to the death and rise of Jesus. So that's the fundamental difference.

it's funny oh!me am a girl and i hate girls about from my sister,because they really piss when it because to rotin guys that has NFA and the thing sef mks me maga like mumu,and guys are a pin in d neck so far as have read have seen devil eveil!but to b honest oh i want all d bad guys in d world to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tongue,but for the good ones letz manage them Grin,just manage, and for does ones that want to tear our hole Shocked,be warn it's not melt for it so u're better don't be scared of us because u're kind of a gay trying to lick all d things under d skit gush guys na wah ohhhhhhhhhh

ahh, please tox, was that post in English? or were you sleepy when you typed it ?

@TayoD, a civilised person is not suppose to show hate. But its not your fault, most Nigerians(both christians and muslims) tend to believe its a religious duty to hate the other religion. Just want you to take a look at the following.
You don't really have to like or believe it.

Prophet Muhammad's Charter of Priviledges to Christians
A Letter to the Monks of St. Catherine Monastry
Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq, The Islamic Civilisation
(Copyright 1990, 1997, All Rights Reserved)

In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.

An English translation of that document is presented below.

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them.

Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.

The Muslims are to fight for them.

If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

I think the topic is suppose to be about similarities and difference between Islam and Christianity. But the first response sounds like an attack on Islam.

Please we don't want to hear what anybody believes in. We want comparisons if there are any.

For all christians on Nairaland, you don't really have to convert to Islam. You can continue being christians.
For all muslims on Nairaland, you have no power to convert anybody to Islam.

The qur'an said There is no compulsion in religion

This argument can go on forever. Being sentimental doesn't help. Instead try to clarify areas of your religion that you think are misunderstood.
Saying Muhammad is a prophet doesn't make sense to most christians just like Jesus Is Lord doesn't make sense to any muslim

Please Nobody should think he/she is always right.

What does the following words mean

What,Why,Who,Where

I've seen most of the posts here start with one of them

When emotions need to flow, they flow naturally. You don't need to stress yourself showing emotions when they don't come naturally. You don't necessarilly have to to kiss or hug to show emotions. Just be yourself.

Most men don't show emotions because they are just being themselves.

The best way to impress poeple is by trying not to impress them

Thanx Zarah.
I expect things to be cheaper in Lagos since most imports are through Lagos.