From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide [Paperback]

Heng Ngee Mok (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2003

The fastest way for Java developers to pick up C# and .Net - by leveraging on what they already know in Java to learn the new language. * Allows a Java developer to pick up C# as quickly as possible by highlighting the similarities and differences between the two languages. * Extensive detailed coverage of the new features in C# not found in Java. * A useful introduction to the .NET platform and how the new architecture works. It's important for a C# developer to know what happens behind the scenes.User Level: Intermediate. Audience: All intermediate Java developers. Technology: C# is a new programming language which is promoted by Microsoft as the successor to C++. C# together with Visual Basic .NET are the two most popular programming languages .NET developers use to write applications targeted at the .NET platform. Author Biography: Mok Heng Ngee is an experienced software developer and architect who has been involved in numerous large-scale software enterprise projects based on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). Mok has writes for Computer Times and has been invited to speak at the official launch of Visual Studio .NET in Singapore. He has been accorded MVP (Most Valuable Professional) status by Microsoft Asia.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learning a new programming language can be intimidating, especially if you need to get up and running with it quickly. If you are a current Java developer who needs to learn C#, this book is essential. Java and C# share many common characteristics and by focussing on the key similarities and differences between the two languages, From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide enables you to use your existing knowledge of object-oriented concepts to learn C# efficiently and quickly. However, features of C# that are totally absent in Java are given the detailed description they warrant.

This practical guide will help you move easily from Java and J2EE to C# and .NET concepts as quickly as possible.

From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide:

• Allows Java developers to learn C# quickly by highlighting the differences and similarities between the two languages
• Contains extensive detailed coverage of features in C# that are not found in Java
• Has a useful introduction to the .NET platform and explains how the new architecture works
• Illustrated throughout with a wealth of code examples which are short yet comprehensive.

0321136225B11082002

About the Author

Heng Ngee Mok ("Mok") is an experienced software developer and architect who has been involved in numerous large-scale software enterprise projects based on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). Besides development work, Mok holds training classes for Java and J2EE technology. He lectures regularly at Nanyang Polytechnic's School of IT, a tertiary institution in Singapore. Mok writes frequently for Computer Times and has been invited to speak at Microsoft's Developer Festival and the official launch of Visual Studio .NET in Singapore. He has been accorded MVP (Most Valuable Professional) status by Microsoft Asia and is a Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2, a Sun Certified Web Component Developer for J2EE and a Microsoft Certified Systems engineer.

0321136225AB11082002

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Education; 1st edition (January 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321136225
• ISBN-13: 978-0321136220
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,364,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awkward, Dry, and Uninformative, June 29, 2003

By 

Sam Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide (Paperback)

I bought this book based on the unanimous five star reviews posted here and was deeply disappointed. I honestly have no idea how someone can give this book five stars.

First of all, it is full of grammatical errors, some of which cause the entire section's conclusion to be ambiguous. Often the wrong word is used. For instance, the author begins one section by saying that there are many differences in paramater passing between in Java and C#, and then proceeds to list only similarities. Even when the writing is clear it is painfully dry, even for a computer book. The entire book reads like a laundry list, with no suggestion as to which features might be helpful or which might be confusing.

The various bullet points offer no explanation as to their relevance. For instance, at one point the author goes at length into describing how, in constrast to Java, a method can't return an object that is less accessible than the method itself. That sounds reasonable, but why is this the case? What issue in the Java security model does this address? What Java security considerations does this render moot? All the author suggests is to try it and see the compiler error.

More importantly, the entire focus of the book is wrong. The author glosses over most of the .NET framework and spends his time concentrating on the differences between the Java language and the C# language. The .NET framework itself is where the real architectural differences lie. I'd like something that tells me which .NET class to use in place of each Java class I know. The book doesn't even include an appendix for this. And truth be told, Java and C# are very, very similar. I don't need five pages explaining how I should use a colon instead of the word "extends".

When the book does address fundamental differences in the languages, it does so only on the most superficial level. For example, it mentions that while Java threads offer an isInterrupted() method, C# threads do not. But it gives no indication as to what replaces what is essentially Java's only external thread control mechanism. The only thing it says is that in C# suspend() and abort() take effect only in "safe" situations. The definition of "safe" is left to the reader's imagination.

Perhaps worst of all, the author gets tons of facts wrong about Java. The size of integers, nesting of exceptions, and the definition of daemon threads are just of few of the many errors the author makes in describing the Java language. With so many mistakes, I can't help but wonder if he was giving me an accurate picture of C#.

If you have more than a very rudimentary knowledge of Java, you will learn more from browsing the class docs in .NET than you will from reading this book. If you don't, there will probably be better books for you anyway. In short, save your time and save your money and look elsewhere.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essence of C# for Java Developers, April 13, 2003

By 

Pete Whitaker (London,UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide (Paperback)

Mok's book is the best amongst the few targeted at the same group of Java audience. It focuses specifically on the new C# language, rather than how to make use of Visual Studio.net (which really isn't what I was looking for - I mean, Visual Studio.net is just an IDE, & I think the emphasis on learning a new language such as C# should be placed on the language itself, rather than the tool.)

This book will appeal to current Java developers who needs to pick up C# (the langauge) as quickly as possible. There is no beating about the bush, though important language concepts which may affect the design & architecture of your program are covered with sufficient detail. I particularly enjoyed reading the 1st chapter on a brief intro to .net as a whole. That chapter itself gave me a really strong foundation on .NET, & puts things in clear eagle-view perspective.

If you are a Java developer, & want to pick up C# quickly, this is the book to get. If you don't know Java, look elsewhere.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very balanced treatment of C# and Java, February 26, 2003

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Java to C#: A Developer's Guide (Paperback)

As a Java developer, I've stood aside from the Java versus C# debate that has been boiling since Microsoft first released C#. The interminable debates on the web and at programmers' forums... Never actually learnt C#, until I came across this book.

Mok expounds specifically for the Java person[*], as that is his background and he thinks that there are others like us out there who have a similar curiosity. You can treat the book as a generalised "diff" of the two languages. Which may actually be more useful than the thick hardcover tomes put out by Microsoft, which scrupulously avoid mention of that four letter word, Java. As Mok makes clear, C# has clear intellectual roots in Java, plus C and C++.

In some ways, C# is a mishmash of those languages. It chose to follow Java in things like single inheritance and garbage collection, unlike C++. But it adopts the operator overloading of C++, unlike Java. And, it uses pointers, which is completely forbidden in Java. The last chapter of his book, which dealt with pointer manipulation was a stroll down memory lane. The functionality is straight out of C, and will be home ground for the many C programmers out there. (As I once was, too.) With this capability, it seems like Microsoft is aiming C# at a market from which Java has been virtually locked out - real time systems, where you need direct memory access.

The book seems very balanced in its treatment of C# versus Java. I thought his critiques of Java were fair, as were those of C#. He carefully points out the limitations of both.

[*] = Java man? No, he is extinct.