With C# I Close My Eyes and Pretend I'm Coding Java

Filed in archive Application Development on April 5, 2006

I'm written a lot of Java Code to this point in my career. However, from time to time I need to step outside of my comfort zone and use another language a client or company wants me to. This is not a big deal to me. When I write code for a personal project I'll use Java or Rails. When a client or company asks me my opinion I give it but at the end of the day those that pay the bills get to make the final decision. We all have our opinions and I get paid either way.

Today I received a new copy of Visual Studio 2005 that I'll soon be using. I'm sure some Java developer is disgusted with me right now. But as they say on the Sopranos "I need to Earn." It has been a long time, 1998 with Visual Studio 6, that I bought any development tools from Microsoft. I'll take this time to also confess that I've coded in C# on a project previously but not with Microsoft tools. On that project we used SharpDevelop. It was not the best choice IMHO.

That brings me to the title of my post today. C# is so close to Java that at times I think it is amusing. Rather than opening a book or checking a reference online when I'm stuck on something I'll close my eyes and do whenever I would have done with Java (seriously, I've caught myself and wondered why the hell am I closing my eyes). Sometimes this obviously doesn't work but more often than not it does. I'm sure there is a CS major somewhere is the world that loves C# and would cringe at hearing such a thing. What can I say, I learn by making mistakes and then picking up the pieces. That is what I love about software development. We have an entire process around this trial and error process I go through and it is called Refactoring. So I'm not really "fixing" anything I'm simply "Refactoring." Beautiful.