VB.NET comparison with Java

[sbasak]

With VB.NET offering so much new facilities like inheritence, structured error handling, polymorphism, java style syntax, easy database connectivity and much more.... what do you think about the comparison VB.NET vs. Java?

Do you think VB.NET will give Java programmers a run for their money or they both continue to co exist happlily side by side?

Please post your views.
Thanks.

[JordanChris]

Microsoft .NET, and what it could mean to an Organisation

This is a quick summary of Microsoft .NET, that was prepared as a briefing paper for IT management.....


A summary of .NET applications:
Microsoft like to provide excellent development environments for programmers. The better the environment and facilities, the better applications they will create, and the more people will buy Microsoft operating systems in order to be able to use those applications.

.NET is the next step on the road of Microsoft providing a compelling development and run-time environment.

A summary of the .NET development environment:
.NET will allow the development of more powerful web-based applications, with finer control over security, with more powerful UI capabilities. These more capable web applications can be written more easily. The insecure ActiveX functionality (that Microsoft said would change web applications) will now provide a fully securable implementation. .NET, using Windows Forms, provides an alternative (and possibly a future replacement for) traditional Win32 development using Visual Basic and other Microsoft languages, while in the shorter term providing better facilities and opportunities to VB and C++ programmers.

.NET allows the re-design of Client / Server systems to work correctly over the Internet.
The important buzz words here are:
- Web Services - The server part.
- SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) - the protocol used for the remote procedure call. It actually uses XML over HTTP - and so doesn't require changes to the Internet protocols and firewalls.
- WSDL (Web Service Description Language) - allows the Web Service to describe its interfaces, so they can be used by clients over the Internet.


Cynical view: .NET is yet another attempt by Microsoft to kill Java!
- .NET can use multiple languages (VB, C++, C# etc.) - Java can only use the Java language.
- .NET has a class library (better developed) - so does Java (currently more extensive).
- .NET uses native code (often compiled Just In Time, so can be "machine independent") - Java uses a JVM (Virtual Machine) for the same purpose.


Why the hype?
Microsoft have recently released VS.NET (Visual Studio for the .NET environment). This is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that allows programmers to develop new .NET applications. It is better, easier to use, more powerful and faster than VB or C++ were in the past. It includes the integrated ASP.NET facility, thus allowing development of web based applications as easily as VB ones used to be developed. It neatly hides all the XML code that would otherwise have been required when developing Web Services. You can develop multi-language applications easily (say using C++ for speed on the server end, and VB facilities for developing the attractive client side application), and de-bug them in the same IDE. Numerous code-generating wizards are available to help develop "enticing" applications quickly.


What choices do you have?
1. Follow Microsoft and .NET on the assumption that many other software developers will do. Develop your new web and XML based applications using the new .NET IDE, the new C# language, and be a part of the inevitable, industry wide, band-wagon of new web-based applications.
2. On the assumption that a learning curve will be needed to understand the .NET environment (especially for VB programmers as they move from glorified scripting to OO-languages), why not use that learning curve to learn Java and the J2EE framework?
This way you move away from the dependency on Microsoft (but also away from the opportunity to utilise the Microsoft led improvements in the future), and towards the slower developing, quasi-democratic, Java Community Process.

[sbasak]

so it means whether VB.NET or Java is often a personal choice rather than technical?