"Paraki" <Pa****@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:40**********************************@microsof t.com...
Hi,
What are the advantages of C# over VB?
Interesting question.
Microsoft still claim that that there is almost no difference and it's a
matter of style and personal preference.
This is of course just a marketing ploy to get all VBers into the .NET game.
However, research in cognition-science have shown that there is a
difference.
I'll tell you why, but first a disclaimer: I refer to science but provide no
links or references. This is because I'm lazy. if you want facts, you do the
google. =)
Anyways, Richie and Kernigan defined the C language without any knowledge on
how our brain works. But they managed to get it just right. You see our
brain understand our environment in a three-step process. These are type,
identity and value.
I'll give you some examples. (I have posted this before, so if readers get a
deja vu feeling you know why):
- Something is moving to my right. It's a bird (type). It's a dove but I
can't tell this bird from any other bird (identity). The bird is unimportant
(value).
- A huge rectangle is moving on rails. It is a train (type). This train have
a number and a destination (identity). Wrong number, I don't need to run to
catch it (value).
- A girl is sleeping in my bed (type). It is my girlfriend (identity). Maybe
I could get some sweet love (value).
Consider BASIC and why not my favourite language: Pascal.
Basic got it all wrong:
Dim i As Integer 'dim and as carry no info but a signal. Identity comes
before type.
i = 5 'value defined per identity but is disjoint of type.
Even my dear pascal got it wrong:
var
i: integer; //identity first, type second
begin
i := 5; //value not in context with type.
Now consider the c-style language.
int i = 5; //type, identity and value in correct order. Brain likes that.
The studies (that I'm not refering to) have shown that c-languages are
easier to read in simple form. However, c-style langauages are terse and
allows for very complex expressions. Ever seen a line of code ending like
..ToString()))))));
I think C# 2.0 is great. With generics we avoid a lot of downcasts and the
language don't allow you to make assignment and compare gotchas. = is not
==.
Simply put: Our brains likes C#.
Happy Coding
- Michael S
