Convert Java to J# or C#?

[Jonathan Sachs]

I'm interested in experienced .Net developers' opinions about whether
I should convert an existing Java program to J# or C#.

I thought this was a no-brainer until I discovered that with the
release of V.S. 2008, Microsoft has ceased to develop or publish J#.
That makes the question much more difficult.

The program in question is one that I began several years ago but
abandoned because it required integration with Microsoft Office, and
that proved too difficult for the amount of time I could give the
project. I believe that the .Net platform will make integration much
easier, so I am interested in resuming work.

Conversion from Java to J# should be fairly easy, and would give me an
easy "reverse migration" path if I later want to develop a
platform-independent version of the program. But, I've now learned, I
would be committing myself to a language that has just been iced.

Conversion from Java to C# would probably be harder, and would tie me
to the .Net platform unless I was willing to convert from C# back to
Java (ugly) or to C++ (ugly++).

Thoughts, anyone?

 

[Thomas Scheidegger]

Conversion from Java to J# should be fairly easy

J# was based on a fairly old java version (mostly JDK 1.1.4?).
IMHO: J# was acceptable for some migration time (2002-2005), but failed in
todays mainstream market.

Conversion from Java to C# would probably be harder, and would tie me
to the .Net platform .... Thoughts, anyone?

what is the target of this solution?
Desktop application, server-side, web? GUI/CUI?

On Desktops (Windows >90% market share),
<URL:http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8>
java seems near obsolete today.
And many larger companies switched to .NET (even exclusively), according
(Quote):
'It's Official: .Net Roasts Java's Beans'
<URL:http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/014981.html>
<URL:http://www.itbusiness.ca/IT/client/en/home/News.asp?id=46224&cid=6>


For a portable .NET (CLI) and C# implementation, check Mono (Novell):
http://www.mono-project.com/

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

what is the target of this solution?
Desktop application, server-side, web? GUI/CUI?

It will have two closely coupled parts. One will be an add-on to
Microsoft Word. The other will be a stand-alone GUI application. It
has the potential to work with non-MS applications in place of Word,
which would not necessarily run on a Windows platform.

On Desktops (Windows >90% market share),
<URL:http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8>
java seems near obsolete today.

I'd like to look at the item you're referring to, but that link took
me to a page that shows OS market share, not language market share.

Java was my primary language during the most recent part of my life
when I was programming actively, and I'm still in touch with it. If
Java is nearly obsolete, there is a large, vibrant community of
developers who are not aware of it.

In this particular case, I know that a large part of my potential user
base runs FrameMaker on *nix. Mono could be a solution there, but
I'll have to learn more about it before I can form an opinion.

 

[Thomas Scheidegger]

On Desktops (Windows >90% market share),

...that link took me to a page that shows OS market share, not

language market share.


and that's the key!
If you develop with .NET, >90% of all your (desktop) customers will be
comfortable
with the overall Look&Feel + Experience as expected for true Windows
applications.

If Java is nearly obsolete, there is a large, vibrant community of
developers who are not aware of it.

that has been true some time ago,
but since, the mainstream Windows desktop-app world has migrated to either
C++ or .NET.

an add-on to Microsoft Word.

VS2008 includes VSTO (Office 2007).

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

I've decided to go with C#. The decisive factor is that C# experience
will have value in the job market. J# clearly won't.

The Java Language Conversion Assistant... how good is it? If I let it
convert my source code for me, how happy will I be with the result?
Or, how much manual work am I likely to have to do to become happy
with it?

The application does some moderately sophisticated things with text
boxes in Swing (Java's GUI component). It makes extensive use of
classes defined in the project. It has no network or database
components.

 

[Thomas Scheidegger]

The Java Language Conversion Assistant

AFAIK was included in VS2005 (JLCA 3.0)
<URL:http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718346.aspx>

(JLCA needs VS Standard Editions at least, no Express Edition)

but no longer in VS2008
<URL:http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vjsharp/default.aspx>
"Retirement of ... Java Language Conversion Assistant"

... how good is it?
...moderately sophisticated things with text boxes in Swing (Java's

GUI component)

I never used it for GUI code, I guess there will be much cleanup work left
to do.
Maybe some search links:

URL:http://www.google.com/search?q=jlca+swing

<URL:http://www.google.com/search?q=+"Java+Language+Conversion+Assistant"++swing>


Newsgroups (seems dead now):
microsoft.public.vsnet.jlca
microsoft.public.dotnet.vjsharp