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C# Strikes a Chord

Syntax Comparison

Table 1 summarizes the comparison between C++, Java and C#. We have deliberately put C# in the middle column flanked by C++ and Java to make it easier to see in what direction C# leans with regard to each feature. The Executable Environment and Language APIs are also included in the comparison. These are as important as the language's syntax in determining how the programming language gets used. In fact, this has always been true with languages. The choices between interpreted versus common .obj files and linking options have determined the flexibility and critical runtime performance of a number of languages. In addition, the availability of a common set of subroutine libraries and system APIs have been a selling point for languages from Fortran to C to Smalltalk and now Java and C#.

The first thing you note is that similarities between C++, Java and C# go well beyond HelloWorld. The number of common or synonymous keywords, operators and flow of control statements never drops below 75 percent. And why not? Pascal derived much syntax from Algol, and of course C++ from C. That programming language designers are following Isaac Newton's suggestion and deriving their syntax from a common starting base is no small boon to programmers. Already pressed with unremitting change in hardware and software technology, anything that helps to keep a language familiar and easily learned is welcome.

There may seem to be some anomalies among the 75-percent-common syntax features. Even though C# has only 52 operators, because C++ has about a dozen keyword equivalents to character operators (such as bitand == "&" and bitor == "|") it has a number of duplicate operators matching C# equivalents. The result is that 59 C++ operators map into some (but not all) of the 52 C# operators. Note also we have called these "common or synonymous". Thus we consider C#'s is operator to be substantially synonymous with Java's instanceof. Perhaps the best approach is to highlight the notable differences in syntax between the two languages.

 

Table 1 Comparison of C++ and Java to C#
	Syntax Features	C++	C#	Java
	Program code to intermediate code	No	Yes	Yes
	Single inheritance, all objects implicitly derived from master class, Object	No	Yes	Yes
	Unicode for char, String, identifiers	No	Yes	Yes
	Uniform implementation of primitive type bitsizes	No	Yes	Yes
	All primitive types derived from Object	No	Yes	No
	Allows pointers, explicit memory mgmt.	Yes	Yes	Simple, =null
	Struct, enum	Yes	Yes	No
	Common or synonymous keywords to C#	56 of 74	69 of 69	46 of 50
	Flow of control statements	9	9	7*
	Common or synonymous operators to C#	59 of 70	52 of 52	47 of 56
	Explicit exception handling with throw, try-finally-catch	Yes, no finally	Yes	Yes
	Operator overloading	Yes	Yes except for =	No
	Preprocessor statements (#define etc)	Yes	Yes	No
	In-processing attributes	No	Yes	No
	Parameter options in, out, ref, params	No	Yes	No
	Compiler aids/hints asm, inline, register	Yes	No	No
	Templates, generic programming	Yes	No	No
	Executable Environment
	Open, cross-platform intermediate language code	No	Promised	Yes
	Garbage collection and memory management	No	Yes	Yes
	Type safe assignments, method invocation, initializations, array bounds checks	Some	Yes	Yes
	Explicit invocation sequence for applets, servlets, beans/components	No	No	Yes
	Fine-grained security of access/operation	No	Yes	Yes
	Disassembly and metadata sharing	Some	Yes	Yes
	JIT-Just In Time compilation and performance enhancers	No	Yes	Yes
	Language API
	Number of standard classes and methods	100's	100's	1000's
	Open source API	Some	To be decided	All
	Standard container, math, I/O classes, etc	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Direct tie to XML for documentation	No	Yes	Yes
	Direct use of XML for interface and remote procedure calls	No	Yes	No

* 7 are identical: no foreach, goto

Next: Notable Differences

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