Large solutions .NET language choice

[Da~One]

This message has been posted to 2 groups, one to the VB.NET group, and the
other to C#.

I am trying to decide which language to commit to for a large scale project.
I am looking for the input of people who have gone through this process
before.

I am currently leaning towards C# solely because I envision VB.NET slowing
down exponentially as projects are added with the constant background
compilation.

Can you turn this background compilation off in VB.NET?
Is C# totally without background compilation?

Any other considerations?

Thank you.

 

[Cor]

Hi Da One,

There has been big discussions the last week about what is better, in both
newsgroups.

Please check that first, if you have than still questions, ask than again.

There is no answer what is better, it are twins, one is a girl and one a
boy.

Cor

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

This message has been posted to 2 groups, one to the VB.NET group, and the
other to C#.

Did you do a Google Grpups Search (<http://www.deja.com>) on this topic?

 

[Da~One]

Did you do a Google Grpups Search (<http://www.deja.com>) on this topic?

Yes, and I was able to find quite a bit of info, but nothing concrete on
large scale projects and choosing a language for efficiency on large scale
projects. I found quite of bit of information, but nothing that has helped
me make such a drastic decision (once it is made, I will have to stick to
it) - which is why I thought a new post was warranted based on choosing a
language for large scale projects, not personal preferences or minor things
that one language does that the other doesn't, etc.

 

[Cor]

Yes, and I was able to find quite a bit of info, but nothing concrete on
large scale projects and choosing a language for efficiency on large scale
projects. I found quite of bit of information, but nothing that has helped
me make such a drastic decision (once it is made, I will have to stick to
it) - which is why I thought a new post was warranted based on choosing a
language for large scale projects, not personal preferences or minor things
that one language does that the other doesn't, etc.

If that had been, than you can be sure that it had been in those threads.

The only decission that I can add for you is to think on which knowlegde of
the languages is the best available in your area. If you by instance have
only to choise from 3 whatever developers who know the language, you take a
big risc.

Cor

 

[Blumidoo]

Yes, and I was able to find quite a bit of info, but nothing concrete on
large scale projects and choosing a language for efficiency on large scale
projects. (...)

When you develop large scale projects, it is the design (both for the
architecture and the code itself) that counts most, not the programming
language. You may introduce design errors in both VB.NET and C# easily.

BTW, there are plenty of posts out there about the "recompilation" and
dotnet with large-scale solutions, for example:
http://groups.google.pl/groups?q=VB...TF-8&selm=eX$DmdvwBHA.2200@tkmsftngp07&rnum=1
http://groups.google.pl/[email protected]&rnum=2
http://groups.google.pl/groups?hl=p...lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=dotnet+large+solution
http://groups.google.pl/groups?hl=p...lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=dotnet+large+solution

and so on... keep searching ;-)

sincerely,
--
Sebastian Zaklada
Skilled Software
http://www.skilledsoftware.com
************************************
SQL Source Control 2003 - for
SQL Server Source Safe integration
and custom databases documentation

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Da~One,
Da! this is an easy one. ;-)

Which language are you more efficient at writing in?

If you are twice as fast at VB.NET then you are at C# use VB.NET. If you are
twice at C# then use VB.NET. I have a couple of fair size projects in
VB.NET, I really don't notice the background building in VS.NET 2.003 (maybe
I'm just use to it). I did however notice it in VS.NET 2002.

However!! I would not use background compilation as a criteria. I would use
the language that was best "suited" to the task. This means if I needed both
some VB.NET & some C#, then I would use both. If I needed a little Managed
C++, then I would throw that in. Of course you also should consider is this
a one man development project or a team development? Who is going to
maintain it when you are done?

IMHO Mostly the choice should be what language you & your team are
comfortable with!

Of course either language (VS.NET really) benefits from higher end
processors & of course lots of ram!

Hope this helps
Jay

 

[Rob Teixeira [MVP]]

This message has been posted to 2 groups, one to the VB.NET group, and the
other to C#.

I am trying to decide which language to commit to for a large scale project.
I am looking for the input of people who have gone through this process
before.

I am currently leaning towards C# solely because I envision VB.NET slowing
down exponentially as projects are added with the constant background
compilation.

Don't think this is a problem. I finished a project that had twelve
assemblies and hundreds of thousands of lines of codes (closer to the
million mark) in VB. At one point during the final debugging stages, I had
all the projects for the twelve assemblies open in the same solution running
in debug mode. Ran fine (just make sure have enough memory! VS can hog up
lots of memory on large projects - in either language.

Can you turn this background compilation off in VB.NET?

No such thing. All .NET code is JIT compiled (just-in-time), so all .NET
code (C# or VB) is in a way "background complied". However, what I THINK you
mean is background syntax checking. And no, I don't think you can.

Is C# totally without background compilation?

C# does most of its syntax checking during compile.

Any other considerations?

In a way, you'll have to experiment. I find that sometimes it's faster
coding in general in VB because I can catch things early with the background
syntax check. In C#, it's easy to make a mistake, and then have the mistake
propogate all over before you finally compile, then you have to go back and
fix a bunch of stuff. I also find VB intellisense to be friendlier and more
responsive, which honestly lets me code faster in VB than C#. However, I'm
very comfortable in both languages. All in all, I think you have much bigger
things to be concerned with when choosing a language for a particular
project than what you expressed here.

-Rob Teixeira [MVP]

 

[Al Dunbar [MS-MVP]]

Hi Da One,

There has been big discussions the last week about what is better, in both
newsgroups.

Please check that first, if you have than still questions, ask than again.

There is no answer what is better, it are twins, one is a girl and one a
boy.

Erm... which is which?

/Al

 

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Erm... which is which?

I have trouble seeing any programming language as a girl, even Ada. So I'd
say they're fraternal twin boys.

--
Cheers, www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.