Welcome to AndasonMajid! Today, I’m sharing why after starting my career in Java I now recommend C# for most projects.
Back before i got a job, I faced an important decision: which programming language to start with. As a beginner, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of acronyms, languages, platforms, and frameworks. Which is faster? Easier to learn? More future-proof?
I choose Java partly because i was a fan of Linux and open-source software, and Java felt like the non-commercial alternative to Microsoft tech.
Eight years later, my perspective has changed. I now strongly recommend C# over Java for many types of projects. Here’s why.
1. The Framework Overload Problem
Java EE has too many competing frameworks. If you’ve worked with Java for years and switch jobs, you’ll likely face an entirely different stack: Spring, Struts, JSF, GWT, Play, Wicket, and more.
Each framework comes with a steep learning curve, making it harder for both developers and employers to match skill sets quickly. In C#, the ecosystem is more unified under .NET, which speeds up onboarding and reduces fragmentation.
2. Java’s Generics Are Only Syntactic Sugar
Java generics don’t give true type safety at runtime they’re implemented via type erasure. That means:
No performance gain
Boxing/unboxing overhead
Limited debug info
In contrast, C# generics are implemented at the runtime level, giving better performance and stronger type checks.
3. No Native Anonymous Functions in Java (Until Recently)
Before Java 8 introduced lambdas, developers had to use verbose anonymous classes for callbacks, which is cumbersome compared to C#’s anonymous methods and lambdas.
4. No Delegates
In Java, event handling often involves anonymous classes. In C#, you have delegates, making callbacks cleaner and easier to manage.
5. No LINQ
LINQ is one of C#’s most powerful features it lets you query collections, XML, or databases with SQL-like syntax. Java still lacks an equally elegant, integrated equivalent.
6. Limited Windows Integration
If your audience is mostly Windows users, C# gives you WinForms, WPF, and native access to Windows services like Active Directory something Java can’t match without extra layers.
7. Small but Impactful Language Features in C#
-Properties (instead of boilerplate getters/setters)
-using statement for automatic resource disposal
-Extension methods for cleanly adding functionality
-Operator overloading
-The yield keyword for efficient iteration
-Dynamic typing when needed
-No checked exceptions (cleaner code)
8. C# is Just One .NET Language
C# is the most popular, but .NET also supports VB.NET, F#, and others so you can mix and match based on your project’s needs.
9. .NET on Linux via Mono
Thanks to Mono (and now .NET Core/.NET 5+), you can run C# on Linux without emulation, making it more cross-platform than before.
Conclusion
Java is still alive and thriving especially in enterprise applications and it won’t disappear anytime soon. But for many modern projects, especially those targeting Windows or needing LINQ, delegates, and a more cohesive ecosystem, C# is my preferred choice.
Thank you very much!
