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A Comparative Overview of C#
http://genamics.com/developer/csharp_comparative.htm
When Microsoft first released C#, many were quick to argue that it was just an imitation of Java.
Though it does share many similarities with Java, C# makes some interesting improvements, as well.
(As you would imagine, there are also aspects of C# that make it much more frustrating than Java,
such as the fact that it is very difficult to develop anything in C# without the aid of
Visual Studio .NET, which costs several hundred dollars.)
This article is one of many on the net that compare C# to Java, so if you would like more information
on this topic, a quick Google search will provide you with plenty of other opinions on these two languages.
If you want to play with C#, then you can download the C# compiler for free from Microsoft
and write C# code in your favorite text editor.
(Non-Microsoft groups have developed a C# plugin for Eclipse and a .el file for Emacs to make this easier.)
So why would you want to write something in C# rather than Java? Well, if you want access to
platform-dependent libraries, such as those that let you automate an Internet Explorer window,
then C# is a good choice.
For example, I used C# to develop PullRank,
a tool that automatically screenscrapes the Google toolbar to get the PageRank of a URL.
In addition to explaining how the tool works, the PullRank web site will also give you a more
detailed explanation about how to write C# code without the aid of Visual Studio.
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