Re: [OT] Of Java and C#

Pete Dashwood wrote:
Hi Daniel,

not sure if this is the Rogers Cadenhead book I recommended or not.. I thought it was Java 2 in 24 hours... Whether it is or not, very pleased to see you have found something that was of use and shared it with the group.

Heh - well, he did both. The "Java 2 in 24 Hours" (according to Rogers) is for people who come from a blank slate as far as software development goes, while the book I named is geared more towards folks who already know programming to some extent. (That's what he said in Appendix A.) It does seem to move at a pretty good clip, though - there have been sections I've had to go back and read again, the do the example program, then go back and read it yet again. However, that technique usually makes the point apparent. :)

Here are the topics, by day, with the appendices...
Week 1 - The Java Language
- Day 1 - Getting Started with Java
- Day 2 - The ABCs of Programming
- Day 3 - Working with Objects
- Day 4 - Lists, Logic, and Loops
- Day 5 - Creating Classes and Methods
- Day 6 - Packages, Interfaces, and Other Class Features
- Day 7 - Threads, Exceptions, and Assertions
Week 2 - The Java Class Library
- Day 8 - Data Structures
- Day 9 - Working with Swing
- Day 10 - Building a Swing Interface
- Day 11 - Arranging Components on a User Interface
- Day 12 - Responding to User Input
- Day 13 - Using Color, Fonts, and Graphics
- Day 14 - Writing Java Applets and Java Web Start Applications
Week 3 - Java Programming
- Day 15 - Working with Input and Output
- Day 16 - Serializing and Examining Objects
- Day 17 - Communicating Across the Internet
- Day 18 - JavaSound
- Day 19 - Creating and Using JavaBeans
- Day 20 - Reading and Writing Data Using JDBC and XML
- Day 21 - Writing Java Servlets and Java Server Pages
Appendices
A - Choosing Java
B - Using the Java Development Kit
C - Programming with the Java Development Kit
D - Using the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment
E - Writing Java 1.1 Applets
F - Creating Web Services with XML-RPC
G - Regular Expressions
H - Where to Go From Here: Java Resources
I - The Book's Website

The latter is http://www.java21days.com - click on the "Fourth Edition" link. The example classes and Java source files are there, if you want to see the code he uses to teach these.

(BTW, threads are really, REALLY cool!)

Didn't realise you were getting into C#.

Well, I hadn't planned on it. At one point, I was responsible for our home-brewed CM system, and am now the alternate programmer for it. The lead guy is working on a .NET conversion, partly to get around the limitations of the current ActiveX controls we currently use.

When programmers check in a source code file, there are several checks we do to it, and cross-references that should be updated. The new .NET check-in page was deployed last month, and has been the most troublesome page in the system ever since. Within the system itself, there is the capability to create a control number against the system, and there have been a couple of formal bug reports.

Monday this past week was day 3, "Working with Objects". This was also the day that I took it upon myself to begin writing the design for the changes we would do to fix these problems. It came to me - a lot of these processes need to do a line-by-line analysis of the code. Why not write one object to do it all?

(Of course, within the object there are many different methods, all but one protected. As I mentioned in my last post, I'll post it here Monday evening (unless otherwise prevented).)

[snip]

MicroSoft, although much maligned :-), have invested huge money in creating the DotNET framework and ensuring interoperability. This is a major advance for application developers and MS deserve credit for it. (I still can't believe they make this, and the IDE, available for FREE...:-))

There are probably several entities you can thank for that - most of which are responsible for the "much malign"ing of Microsoft...

[snip]

From now on, the error logs from all my applications will be purely for system problems and the "Error Reports" will be Excel spreadsheets...

I am becoming more and more convinced that the difference in productivity between COBOL and C# is largely down to the IDE and the vast amount of information that is at your fingertips when using C#. I found any number of articles, including sample code, when I searched on accessing Excel from C#. And it is SO good to get sample code that is actually in the language you are using, rather than having to translate VB into COBOL :-) Having said that, I also like the simple elegance of C#. It is a very good compromise between Java and C++ in my opinion.

Is this app is running on Windows proper or on a web server? I'm finding that, more and more, I can't even think of an app to try to write that isn't web-based. :) Maybe a library app - we have a good number of books, and my wife has begun home-schooling. Even then, though, the database would have to be centralized. I'm actually thinking about writing that - but at this point, I'm really undecided about whether to go with Java or C#. I think it would be good for my skills in whichever language I decide to go with. Java would run under Linux, but supposedly so would C#, using Mono's CLR.

Daniel, I'm really glad you found VS 2005 to be what I said it was. Thanks for endorsing my comments.

You're welcome. The IDE is very good. One thing I found was that it actually caught syntax errors, because the method/property list that I got wasn't the one I expected. :) (Although, one gripe - it really OUGHT to know that it can convert a .Substring(x,1) to a Char... but no, Convert.ToChar(var.Substring(x,1)); ) heh - look at that, my parenthesis actually match! ;)

Coincidentally, "Visual SlickEdit" (now known as just "SlickEdit") was mentioned in Appendix A of the Java book. I've been entering the code using it, and once I told it where the JDK was, it'll pop up methods and properties for me too. It's not quite as thorough as the C# IDE, but I'm familiar with it, so it feels comfortable. :)

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is more irrational? A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine
.

Quantcast