C# From a Java Developer's Perspective

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A COMPARISON OF
MICROSOFT'S C# PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
TO SUN MICROSYSTEMS' JAVA PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGE
By
Dare Obasanjo

Introduction
The C# language is an object-oriented language that is aimed at enabling programmers to quickly build a
wide range of applications for the Microsoft .NET platform. The goal of C# and the .NET platform is to
shorten development time by freeing the developer from worrying about several low level plumbing issues
such as memory management, type safety issues, building low level libraries, array boundschecking , etc.
thus allowing developers to actually spend their time and energy working on their application and business
logic instead. As a Java developer the previous sentence could be described as "a short description of the
Java language and platform" if the words C# and the .NET platform were replaced with words Java and the
Java platform.
What follows is an overview of similarities and dierences between the language features and libraries of
the C# and Java programming languages based on my experience using both languages. All code snippets
below were tested on Microsoft's .NET Framework version 2.0 for C# snippets and Java Platform,
Standard Edition version 6 for the Java snippets.
Quick Index
A. The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same
This section describes concepts and language features that are almost exactly the same in C# and
Java.
1. We Are All Objects
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Keyword Jumble
Of Virtual Machines and Language Runtimes
Heap Based Classes and Garbage Collection
Arrays Can Be Jagged
No Global Methods
Interfaces, Yes. Multiple Inheritance, No.
Strings Are Immutable
Unextendable Classes
Throwing and Catching Exceptions
Member Initialization at Denition and Static Constructors

12. Boxing

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B. The Same But Dierent

This section describes concepts and language features that dier either only in syntax or in some
similarly minor manner between C# and Java.
1. Main Method
2. Inheritance Syntax
3. Run Time Type Identication (is operator)
4. Namespaces
5. Constructors, Destructors and Finalizers
6. Synchronizing Methods and Code Blocks
7. Access Modiers
8. Reection
9. Declaring Constants
10. Primitive Types
11. Array Declarations
12. Calling Base Class Constructors and Constructor Chaining
13. Variable Length Parameter Lists
14. Generics
15. for-each Loop
16. Metadata Annotations
17. Enumerations
C. An Ever So Slight Feeling of Dj Vu
This section describes concepts and language features that exist in C# that are similar to those that
exist in Java but with a signicant dierence.
1. Nested classes
2. Threads and Volatile Members
3. Operator Overloading
4. switch Statement
5. Assemblies
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Collections
goto (no longer considered harmful)
Virtual Methods (and nal ones too)
File I/O
Object Serialization

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Documentation Generation from Source Code Comments

Multiple Classes in a Single File
Importing Libraries
Events
Cross Language Interoperability

D. Now For Something Completely Dierent

This section describes language features and concepts that exist in C# and have no Java counterpart.
1. Deterministic Object Cleanup
2. Delegates
3. Value Types (Structs)
4. Run Time Type Identication (as operator)
5. Properties
6. Multidimensional Arrays
7. Indexers
8.
9.
10.
11.

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Preprocessor Directives
Aliases
Runtime Code Generation
Pointers and Unsafe Code

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12.
13.
14.
15.

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Pass by Reference
Verbatim Strings
Overow Detection
Explicit Interface Implementation

16. Friend Assemblies

17. The Namespace Qualier
18. Iterators (Continuations)
19. Partial Types
20. Static Classes
21. Nullable Types
22. Anonymous Methods
E. Wish You Were Here
This section describes language features and concepts that exist in Java and have no C# counterpart.
1. Checked Exceptions
2. Cross Platform Portability (Write Once, Run Anywhere)
3. Extensions
4. strictfp
5. Dynamic Class Loading
6. Interfaces That Contain Fields
7. Anonymous Inner Classes
8. Static Imports
F. Conclusion(2001)
G. Conclusion (2007)
H. Resources
I. Acknowledgements

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same
1. We Are All Objects
Just like Java, C# has a single rooted class hierarchy where all classes in C# are subclasses of
System.Object the same way all Java classes are subclasses of java.lang.Object. The methods of the two
languages' Object classes share some similarities (e.g. System.Object's ToString() to java.lang.Object's
toString()) and dierences (System.Object does not have analogs to wait(), notify() or notifyAll() in
java.lang.Object).
NOTE: In C#, the object class can either be written as object or Object. The lower case "object" is a C#
keyword which is replaced with the class name "System.Object" during compilation.
2. Keyword Jumble
There are a large number of syntactic similarities between Java and C#, similarly almost every Java
keyword has a C# equivalent except for a few like transient, throws and strictfp. Below is a table of
Java and C# keywords with the Java keywords in red while the equivalent C# keywords are in blue.

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C#
Java
C#
keyword keyword keyword

Java
keyword

C#
keyword

C#
Java
keyword keyword

Java

abstract

abstract

extern

native

operator

N/A

throw

throw

as

N/A

false

false

out

N/A

true

true

keyword

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base

super

nally

nally

override

N/A

try

try

bool

boolean

xed

N/A

params

...

typeof

N/A

break

break

oat

oat

partial

N/A

uint

N/A

byte

N/A

for

for

private

private

ulong

N/A

case

case

foreach

for

protected

N/A

unchecked N/A

catch

catch

get

N/A

public

public

unsafe

N/A

char

char

goto

goto1

readonly

N/A

ushort

N/A

checked

N/A

if

if

ref

N/A

using

import

class

class

implicit

N/A

return

return

value

N/A

const

const1

in

N/A

sbyte

byte

virtual

N/A

continue continue int

int

sealed

nal

void

void

decimal

N/A

interface

interface

set

N/A

volatile

volatile

default

default

internal

protected

short

short

where

extends

delegate N/A

is

instanceof

sizeof

N/A

while

while

do

do

lock

synchronized stackalloc N/A

yield

N/A

double

double

long

long

else

else

enum

static

static

extends

namespace package

string

N/A

implements

N/A

new

new

struct

N/A

N/A

strictfp

event

N/A

null

null

switch

switch

N/A

throws

explicit

N/A

object

N/A

this

this

N/A

transient2

NOTE: Although
NOTE: The

goto

and

[NonSerialized]

const

are Java language keywords they are unused in the Java language.

attribute in C# is equivalent to the

transient

keyword in Java.

3. Of Virtual Machines and Language Runtimes

Just like Java is typically compiled to Java byte code which then runs in managed execution
environment (the Java Virtual Machine or JVM) so also is C# code compiled to an Intermediate
Language (IL) which then runs in the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Both platforms support
native compilation via Just In Time compilers.
NOTE: While the Java platform supports interpretation of byte code or byte code being JITed then run
natively, the .NET platform only supports native execution of C# code because the IL code is always
natively compiled before running.
4. Heap Based Classes and Garbage Collection
In Java objects are created on the heap using the new keyword. Most classes in C# are created on the
heap by using the new keyword. Also just as the JVM manages the destruction of objects so also does
the CLR via a Mark and Compact garbage collection algorithm
NOTE: C# also supports stack-based classes, called value types, which are discussed further below.

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5. Arrays Can Be Jagged

In languages like C and C++, each subarray of a multidimensional array must have the same
dimensions. In Java and C# arrays do not have to be uniform because jagged arrays can be created as
one-dimensional arrays of arrays. In a jagged array the contents of the array are arrays which may
hold instances of a type or references to other arrays. For this reason the rows and columns in a
jagged array need not have uniform length as can be seen from the following code snippet:
int [][]myArray = new int[2][];
myArray[0] = new int[3];
myArray[1] = new int[9];

The above code snippet is valid for both C# and Java.

6. No Global Methods
Just like Java and unlike C++, methods in C# have to be part of a class either as member or static
methods.
7. Interfaces, Yes. Multiple Inheritance, No
C#, like Java, supports the concept of an interface which is akin to a pure abstract class. Similarly C#
and Java both allow only single inheritance of classes but multiple inheritance (or implementation) of
interfaces.
8. Strings Are Immutable
C# has a System.String class which is analogous to the java.lang.String class. Both classes are
immutable meaning that the values of the strings cannot be changed once the strings have been
created. In both instances methods that appear to modify the actual content of a string actually create
a new string to return, leaving the original string unchanged. Thus the following C# and Java code
does not modify the string in either case
C# Code
String csString = "Apple Jack";
csString.ToLower(); /* Does not modify string, instead returns lower case copy of string */
Java Code
String jString = "Grapes";
jString.toLowerCase(); /* Does not modify string, instead returns lower case copy of string */

To create a string-like object that allows modication in C# it is advisable to use the

System.Text.StringBuilder class whereas in Java one would use the java.lang.StringBuer class.
NOTE: In C#, the string class can either be written as

string

or String.

9. Unextendable Classes
Both Java and C# provide mechanisms to specify that a class should be the last one in an inheritance
hierarchy and cannot be used as a base class. In Java this is done by preceding the class declaration
with the final keyword while in C# this is done by preceding the class declaration with the sealed
keyword. Below are examples of classes that cannot be extended in either language
C# Code
sealed class Student {
string fname;
string lname;
int uid;
void attendClass() {}

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}
Java Code
final class Student {
String fname;
String lname;
int uid;
void attendClass() {}
}

10. Throwing and Catching Exceptions

Exceptions in C# and Java share a lot of similarities. Both languages support the use of the try block
for indicating guarded regions, the catch block for handling thrown exceptions and the nally block for
releasing resources before leaving the method. Both languages have an inheritance hierarchy where
all exceptions are derived from a single Exception class. Exceptions can be caught and rethrown after
some error handling occurs in both languages. Finally, both languages provide a mechanism for
wrapping exceptions in one another for cases where a dierent exception is rethrown from the one
that was caught. An example of using the exception wrapping capability is a three tier application
where a SQLException is thrown during database access but is caught, examined, then an application
specic exception is thrown. In this scenario the application specic exception can be initialized with
the original SQLException so handlers of the application specic exception can access the original
exception thrown if needed. Below are two equivalent code samples that show the similarities between
exceptions in both languages.
NOTE: Although exceptions in both languages support methods for getting a stack trace, only Java
exceptions have methods that allow one to alter the stack trace.
C# Code
using System;
using System.IO;
class MyException: Exception{
public MyException(string message): base(message){ }
public MyException(string message, Exception innerException):
base(message, innerException){ }

}
public class ExceptionTest {

static void DoStuff(){

throw new FileNotFoundException();
}

public static void Main(string[] args){

try{
try{
DoStuff();
return; //won't get to execute
}catch(IOException ioe){ /* parent of FileNotFoundException */
throw new MyException("MyException occured", ioe); /* rethrow new exception with inner exception specified */
}
}finally{
Console.WriteLine("***Finally block executes even though MyException not caught***");

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}
}//Main(string[])
} // ExceptionTest
Java Code
class MyException extends Exception{
public MyException(String message){ super(message); }
public MyException(String message, Exception innerException){ super(message, innerException); }

}
public class ExceptionTest {

static void doStuff(){

throw new ArithmeticException();
}

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{

try{
try{
doStuff();
return; //won't get to execute
}catch(RuntimeException re){ /* parent of ArithmeticException */
throw new MyException("MyException occured", re); /* rethrow new exception with cause specified */
}
}finally{
System.out.println("***Finally block executes even though MyException not caught***");
}
}//main(string[])
} // ExceptionTest

11. Member Initialization at Denition and Static Constructors

Instance and static variables can be initialized at their point of denition in both C# and Java. If the
member variable is an instance variable, then initialization occurs just before the constructor is called.
Static members are initialized sometime before the rst usage of the member and before the rst
creation of an instance of the class. It is also possible to specify a block of code that should run before
the class is used either via creation of an instance variable or invocation of a static method. These code
blocks are called are called static constructors in C# and static initialization blocks in Java. Static
constructors are invoked before the rst invocation of a static method in the class and before the rst
time an instance of the class is created.
C# Code
using System;
class StaticInitTest{

string instMember = InitInstance();

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string staMember = InitStatic();

StaticInitTest(){
Console.WriteLine("In instance constructor");
}
static StaticInitTest(){
Console.WriteLine("In static constructor");
}

static String InitInstance(){

Console.WriteLine("Initializing instance variable");
return "instance";
}
static String InitStatic(){
Console.WriteLine("Initializing static variable");
return "static";
}

static void DoStuff(){

Console.WriteLine("Invoking static DoStuff() method");
}

public static void Main(string[] args){

Console.WriteLine("Beginning main()");
StaticInitTest.DoStuff();
StaticInitTest sti = new StaticInitTest();
Console.WriteLine("Completed main()");
}
}
Java Code
class StaticInitTest{

String instMember = initInstance();

String staMember = initStatic();

StaticInitTest(){
System.out.println("In instance constructor");
}
static{
System.out.println("In static constructor");
}

static String initInstance(){

System.out.println("Initializing instance variable");
return "instance";
}
static String initStatic(){
System.out.println("Initializing static variable");
return "static";
}

static void doStuff(){

System.out.println("Invoking static DoStuff() method");

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public static void main(String[] args){

System.out.println("Beginning main()");
StaticInitTest.doStuff();
StaticInitTest sti = new StaticInitTest();
System.out.println("Completed main()");
}
}

OUTPUT FROM BOTH EXAMPLES:

In static constructor
Beginning main()
Invoking static DoStuff() method
Initializing instance variable
Initializing static variable
In instance constructor
Completed main()

12. Boxing
In situations where value types need to be treated as objects, the .NET and Java runtimes
automatically converts value types to objects by wrapping them within a heap-allocated reference type
in a process called boxing. The process of automatically convert an object to its corresponding value
type such as converting an instance of java.lang.Integer to an int is known as unboxing. Below are
examples of various situations where boxing occurs in both runtimes.

C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
//stack allocated structs also need to be boxed to be treated as objects
struct Point{
//member fields
private int x;
private int y;
public Point (int x, int y){
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
public override string ToString(){
return String.Format("({0}, {1})", x, y);
}

}//Point
class Test{

public static void PrintString(object o){

Console.WriteLine(o);

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}
public static void Main(string[] args){
Point p = new Point(10, 15);
ArrayList list = new ArrayList();
int z = 100;
PrintString(p); //p boxed to object when passed to PrintString
PrintString(z); //z boxed to object when passed to PrintString
// integers and float boxed when stored in collection
// therefore no need for Java-like wrapper classes
list.Add(1);
list.Add(13.12);
list.Add(z);
for(int i =0; i < list.Count; i++)
PrintString(list[i]);
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
class Test{
public static void PrintString(Object o){
System.out.println(o);
}
public static void PrintInt(int i){
System.out.println(i);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
Vector list = new Vector();
int z = 100;
Integer x = new Integer(300);
PrintString(z); //z boxed to object when passed to PrintString
PrintInt(x); //x unboxed to int when passed to PrintInt
// integers and float boxed when stored in collection
// therefore no need for Java wrapper classes
list.add(1);
list.add(13.12);
list.add(z);
for(int i =0; i < list.size(); i++)
PrintString(list.elementAt(i));
}
}

The Same But Dierent

1. Main Method
The entry point of both C# and Java programs is a main method. There is a supercial dierence in
that the Main method in C# begins with an uppercase "M" (as do all .NET Framework method names,

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by convention) while the main method in Java begins with a lowercase "m" (as do all Java method
names, by convention). The declaration for the main method is otherwise the same in both cases
except for the fact that parameter to the Main() method in C# can have a void parameter.
C# Code
using System;
class A{
public static void Main(String[] args){
Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
}
}
Java Code
class B{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Hello World");
}
}

It is typically recommended that one creates a main method for each class in an application to test the
functionality of that class besides whatever main method actually drives the application. For instance it
is possible to have two classes, A and B, which both contain main methods. In Java, since a class is the
unit of compilation then all one has to do is invoke the specic class one wants run via the command
line to run its main method. In C# one can get the same eect by compiling the application with the
/main switch to specify which main should be used as the starting point of the application when the
executable is created. Using test mains in combination with conditional compilation via preprocessor
directives is a powerful testing technique.
Java Example
C:\CodeSample> javac A.java B.java
C:\CodeSample> java A
Hello World from class A
C:\CodeSample> java B
Hello World from class B
C# Example
C:\CodeSample> csc /main:A /out:example.exe A.cs B.cs
C:\CodeSample> example.exe
Hello World from class A
C:\CodeSample> csc /main:B /out:example.exe A.cs B.cs
C:\CodeSample> example.exe
Hello World from class B

So in Java's favor, one doesn't have to recompile to change which main is used by the application while
a recompile is needed in a C# application. However, On the other hand, Java doesn't support
conditional compilation, so the main method will be part of even your released classes.
2. Inheritance Syntax
C# uses C++ syntax for inheritance, both for class inheritance and interface implementation as
opposed to the extends and implements keywords.
C# Code

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using System;
class B:A, IComparable{
int CompareTo(){}
public static void Main(String[] args){
Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
}
}
Java Code
class B extends A implements Comparable{
int compareTo(){}
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Hello World");
}
}

Since C# is aimed at transitioning C++ developers the above syntax is understandable although Java
developers may pine for the Java syntax especially since it is clear from looking at the class declaration
in the Java version whether the class is subclassing a class or simply implementing an interface while
it isn't in the C# version without intimate knowledge of all the classes involved. Although it should be
noted that in .NET naming conventions, interface names have an upper-case "I" prepended to their
names (as in IClonable), so this isn't an issue for programs that conform to standard naming
conventions.
3. Run Time Type Identication (is operator)
The C# is operator is completely analogous to Java's
are equivalent.

instanceof

operator. The two code snippets below

C# Code
if(x is MyClass)
MyClass mc = (MyClass) x;
Java Code
if(x instanceof MyClass)
MyClass mc = (MyClass) x;

4. Namespaces
A C# namespace is a way to group a collection of classes and is used in a manner similar to Java's
package construct. Users of C++ will notice the similarities between the C# namespace syntax and that
in C++. In Java, the package names dictate the directory structure of source les in an application
whereas in C# namespaces do not dictate the physical layout of source les in directories only their
logical structure. Examples below:
C# Code
namespace com.carnage4life{
public class MyClass {
int x;

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void doStuff(){}
}
}
Java Code
package com.carnage4life;
public class MyClass {
int x;
void doStuff(){}
}

C#

namespace

syntax also allows one to nest namespaces in the following way

C# Code
using System;
namespace Company{
public class MyClass { /* Company.MyClass */
int x;
void doStuff(){}
}
namespace Carnage4life{
public class MyOtherClass {

/* Company.Carnage4life.MyOtherClass */

int y;
void doOtherStuff(){}
public static void Main(string[] args){
Console.WriteLine("Hey, I can nest namespaces");
}
}// class MyOtherClass
}// namespace Carnage4life
}// namespace Company

5. Constructors, Destructors and Finalizers

The syntax and semantics for constructors in C# is identical to that in Java. C# also has the concept of
destructors which use syntax similar to C++ destructor syntax but have the mostly the same semantics
as Java nalizers. Although nalizers exist doing work within them is not encouraged for a number of
reasons including the fact that there is no way to control the order of nalization which can lead to
interesting problems if objects that hold references to each other are nalized out of order.
Finalization also causes more overhead because objects with nalizers aren't removed after the
garbage collection thread runs but instead are eliminated after the nalization thread runs which
means they have to be maintained in the system longer than objects without nalizers. Below are
equivalent examples in C# and Java.
NOTE: In C#, destructors(nalizers) automatically call the base class nalizer after executing which is
not the case in Java.
C# Code
using System;

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public class MyClass {

static int num_created = 0;
int i = 0;
MyClass(){
i = ++num_created;
Console.WriteLine("Created object #" + i);
}
~MyClass(){
Console.WriteLine("Object #" + i + " is being finalized");
}
public static void Main(string[] args){
for(int i=0; i < 10000; i++)
new MyClass();
}
}
Java Code
public class MyClass {
static int num_created = 0;
int i = 0;
MyClass(){
i = ++num_created;
System.out.println("Created object #" + i);
}
public void finalize(){
System.out.println("Object #" + i + " is being finalized");
}
public static void main(String[] args){
for(int i=0; i < 10000; i++)
new MyClass();
}
}

6. Synchronizing Methods and Code Blocks

In Java it is possible to specify synchronized blocks of code that ensure that only one thread can access
a particular object at a time and then create a critical section of code. C# provides the lock statement
which is semantically identical to the synchronized statement in Java.
C# Code
public void WithdrawAmount(int num){
lock(this){
if(num < this.amount)
this.amount -= num;
}
}
Java Code
public void withdrawAmount(int num){

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synchronized(this){
if(num < this.amount)
this.amount -= num;
}
}

Both C# and Java support the concept of synchronized methods. Whenever a synchronized method is
called, the thread that called the method locks the object that contains the method. Thus other threads
cannot call a synchronized method on the same object until the object is unlocked by the rst thread
when it nishes executing the synchronized method. Synchronized methods are marked in Java by
using the synchronized keyword while in C# it is done by annotating the method with the
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)] attribute. Examples of synchronized methods are shown below
C# Code
using System;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
public class BankAccount{
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]
public void WithdrawAmount(int num){
if(num < this.amount)
this.amount - num;
}
}//BankAccount
Java Code
public class BankAccount{
public synchronized void withdrawAmount(int num){
if(num < this.amount)
this.amount - num;
}
}//BankAccount

7. Access Modiers
Below is a table mapping C# access modiers to Java's. C++ fans who were disappointed when Sun
changed the semantics of the protected keyword in Java 2 will be happy to note that the C# protected
keyword has the same semantics as the C++ version. This means that a protected member can only be
accessed by member methods in that class or member methods in derived classes but is inaccessible to
any other classes. The internal modier means that the member can be accessed from other classes in
the same assembly as the class. The internal protected modier means that a member can be accessed
from classes that are in the same assembly or from derived classes.
C# access modier Java access modier

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private

private

public

public

internal

protected

protected

N/A

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internal protected

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N/A

NOTE: The default accessibility of a C# eld or method when no access modier is specied is private
while in Java it is protected (except that derived classes from outside the package cannot inherit the
eld).
8. Reection
The ability to discover the methods and elds in a class as well as invoke methods in a class at
runtime, typically called reection, is a feature of both Java and C#. The primary dierence between
reection in Java versus reection in C# is that reection in C# is done at the assembly level while
reection in Java is done at the class level. Since assemblies are typically stored in DLLs, one needs
the DLL containing the targeted class to be available in C# while in Java one needs to be able to load
the class le for the targeted class. The examples below which enumerate the methods in a specied
class should show the dierence between reection in C# and Java.
C# Code
using
using
using
using

System;
System.Xml;
System.Reflection;
System.IO;

class ReflectionSample {

public static void Main( string[] args){

Assembly assembly=null;
Type type=null;
XmlDocument doc=null;
try{
// Load the requested assembly and get the requested type
assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom("C:\\WINNT\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v1.0.2914\\System.XML.dll");
type = assembly.GetType("System.Xml.XmlDocument", true);
//Unfortunately one cannot dynamically instantiate types via the Type object in C#.
doc = Activator.CreateInstance("System.Xml","System.Xml.XmlDocument").Unwrap() as XmlDocument;
if(doc != null)
Console.WriteLine(doc.GetType() + " was created at runtime");
else
Console.WriteLine("Could not dynamically create object at runtime");
}catch(FileNotFoundException){
Console.WriteLine("Could not load Assembly: system.xml.dll");
return;
}catch(TypeLoadException){
Console.WriteLine("Could not load Type: System.Xml.XmlDocument from assembly: system.xml.dll");
return;
}catch(MissingMethodException){
Console.WriteLine("Cannot find default constructor of " + type);
}catch(MemberAccessException){
Console.WriteLine("Could not create new XmlDocument instance");
}
// Get the methods from the type
MethodInfo[] methods = type.GetMethods();
//print the method signatures and parameters
for(int i=0; i < methods.Length; i++){
Console.WriteLine ("{0}", methods[i]);
ParameterInfo[] parameters = methods[i].GetParameters();

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for(int j=0; j < parameters.Length; j++){

Console.WriteLine (" Parameter: {0} {1}", parameters[j].ParameterType, parameters[j].Name);
}
}//for (int i...)
}
}
Java Code
import java.lang.reflect.*;
import org.w3c.dom.*;
import javax.xml.parsers.*;
class ReflectionTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Class c=null;
Document d;
try{
c =
d =

DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder().newDocument().getClass();
(Document) c.newInstance();

System.out.println(d + " was created at runtime from its Class object");

}catch(ParserConfigurationException pce){
System.out.println("No document builder exists that can satisfy the requested configuration");
}catch(InstantiationException ie){
System.out.println("Could not create new Document instance");
}catch(IllegalAccessException iae){
System.out.println("Cannot access default constructor of " + c);
}
// Get the methods from the class
Method[] methods = c.getMethods();
//print the method signatures and parameters
for (int i = 0; i < methods.length; i++) {
System.out.println( methods[i]);
Class[] parameters = methods[i].getParameterTypes();
for (int j = 0; j < parameters.length; j++) {
System.out.println("Parameters: " + parameters[j].getName());
}
}
}
}

One might notice from the above code samples that there is slightly more granularity in the C#
Reection API than the Java Reection API as can be seen by the fact that C# has a ParameterInfo
class which contains metadata about the parameters of a Method while Java uses Class objects for that
which lose some information such as the name of the parameter.
Sometimes there is a need to obtain the metadata of a specic class encapsulated as an object. This
object is the java.lang.Class object in Java and the System.Type object in C#. To retrieve this metadata
class from an instance of the target class, the getClass() method is used in Java while the GetType()
method is used in C#. If the name of the class is known at compile time then one can avoid creating an
instance of the class just to obtain the metadata class by doing the following
C# Code
Type t = typeof(ArrayList);

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Java Code
Class c = java.util.Arraylist.class; /* Must append ".class" to fullname of class */

9. Declaring Constants
To declare constants in Java the final keyword is used. Final variables can be set either at compile time
or run time. In Java, when the final is used on a primitive it makes the value of the primitive immutable
while when used on object references it makes the reference constant meaning that the reference can
only point to only one object during its lifetime. Final members can be left uninitialized when declared
but then must be dened in the constructor.
To declare constants in C# the const keyword is used for compile time constants while the readonly
keyword is used for runtime constants. The semantics of constant primitives and object references in
C# is the same as in Java.
Unlike C++, it is not possible to specify an immutable class via language constructs in either C# or
Java. Neither is it possible to create a reference through which it's impossible to modify a mutable
object.
C# Code
using System;
public class ConstantTest{
/* Compile time constants */
const int i1 = 10;
//implicitly a static variable
// code below won't compile because of 'static' keyword
// public static const int i2 = 20;
/* run time constants */
public static readonly uint l1 =

(uint) DateTime.Now.Ticks;

/* object reference as constant */

readonly Object o = new Object();
/* uninitialized readonly variable */
readonly float f;

ConstantTest() {
// unitialized readonly variable must be initialized in constructor
f = 17.21f;
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
public class ConstantTest{
/* Compile time constants */
final int i1 = 10;
//instance variable
static final int i2 = 20; //class variable
/* run time constants */
public static final long l1 = new Date().getTime();
/* object reference as constant */
final Vector v = new Vector();

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/* uninitialized final */
final float f;

ConstantTest() {
// unitialized final variable must be initialized in constructor
f = 17.21f;
}
}

NOTE: The Java language also supports having

non-existent in C#.

final

parameters to a method. This functionality is

The primary use of nal parameters is to allow arguments to a method to be accessible from within
inner classes declared in the method body.
10. Primitive Types
For every Java primitive type there is a corresponding C# type which has the same name (except for
byte). The byte type in Java is signed and is thus analagous to the sbyte type in C# and not the byte
type.C# also has unsigned versions of some primitives such as ulong, uint, ushort and byte . The only
signicantly dierent primitive in C# is the decimal type, a type which stores decimal numbers without
rounding errors (at the cost of more space and less speed).
Below are dierent ways to declare real valued numbers in C#.
C# Code
decimal dec = 100.44m; //m is the suffix used to specify decimal numbers
double dbl = 1.44e2d; //e is used to specify exponential notation while d is the suffix used for doubles

11. Array Declarations

Java has two ways in which one can declare an array, one which is backwards compatible with the
notation used in C & C++ and another which is generally accepted as being clearer to read, C# uses
only the latter array declaration syntax.
C# Code
int[] iArray = new int[100]; //valid, iArray is an object of type int[]
float fArray[] = new float[100]; //ERROR: Won't compile
Java Code
int[] iArray = new int[100]; //valid, iArray is an object of type int[]
float fArray[] = new float[100]; //valid, but isn't clear that fArray is an object of type float[]

12. Calling Base Class Constructors and Constructor Chaining

C# and Java automatically call base class constructors, and both provide a way to call the constructor
of the base class with specic parameters. Similarly both languages enforce that the call to the base
class constructor occurs before any initializations in the derived constructor which prevents the
derived constructor from using members that are yet to be initialized. The C# syntax for calling the
base class constructor is reminiscent of the C++ initializer list syntax.
Both languages also provide a way to call a constructor from another which allows one to reduce the
amount of code duplication that can occur in constructors. This practice is typically called constructor
chaining.

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C# Code
using System;
class MyException: Exception
{
private int Id;
public MyException(string message): this(message, null, 100){ }
public MyException(string message, Exception innerException):
this(message, innerException, 100){ }
public MyException(string message, Exception innerException, int id):
base(message, innerException){
this.Id = id;
}
}
Java Code

class MyException extends Exception{

private int Id;

public MyException(String message){

this(message, null, 100);
}
public MyException(String message, Exception innerException){
this(message, innerException, 100);
}
public MyException( String message,Exception innerException, int id){
super(message, innerException);
this.Id = id;
}
}

13. Variable Length Parameter Lists

In C and C++ it is possible to specify that a function takes a variable number of arguments. This
functionality is used extensively in the printf and scanf family of functions. Both C# and Java allow one
to dene a parameter that indicates that a variable number of arguments are accepted by a method. In
C#, the mechanism for specifying that a method accepts a variable number of arguments is by using
the params keyword as a qualier to the last argument to the method which should be an array. In Java,
the same eect is achieved by appending the string "..." to the typename of the last argument to the
method.
C# Code
using System;
class ParamsTest{
public static void PrintInts(string title, params int[] args){
Console.WriteLine(title + ":");
foreach(int num in args)
Console.WriteLine(num);

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public static void Main(string[] args){

PrintInts("First Ten Numbers in Fibonacci Sequence", 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34);
}
}
Java Code
class Test{
public static void PrintInts(String title, Integer... args){
System.out.println(title + ":");
for(int num : args)
System.out.println(num);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
PrintInts("First Ten Numbers in Fibonacci Sequence", 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34);
}
}

14. Generics
Both C# and Java provide a mechanism for creating strongly typed data structures without knowing
the specic types at compile time. Prior to the existence of the Generics feature set, this capability was
achieved by specifying the type of the objects within the data structure as Object then casting to
specic types at runtime. This technique had several drawbacks including lack of type safety, poor
performance and code bloat.
The following code sample shows how one would calculate the sum of all the integers in a collection
using generics and using a collection of Objects so that both approaches can be compared.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Test{
public static Stack GetStackB4Generics(){
Stack s = new Stack();
s.Push(2);
s.Push(4);
s.Push(5);
return s;
}
public static Stack<int> GetStackAfterGenerics(){
Stack<int> s = new Stack<int>();
s.Push(12);
s.Push(14);
s.Push(50);
return s;
}
public static void Main(String[] args){
Stack s1 = GetStackB4Generics();
int sum1 = 0;

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while(s1.Count != 0){
sum1 += (int) s1.Pop(); //cast
}
Console.WriteLine("Sum of stack 1 is " + sum1);
Stack<int> s2 = GetStackAfterGenerics();
int sum2 = 0;
while(s2.Count != 0){
sum2 += s2.Pop(); //no cast
}
Console.WriteLine("Sum of stack 2 is " + sum2);
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
class Test{
public static Stack GetStackB4Generics(){
Stack s = new Stack();
s.push(2);
s.push(4);
s.push(5);
return s;
}
public static Stack<Integer> GetStackAfterGenerics(){
Stack<Integer> s = new Stack<Integer>();
s.push(12);
s.push(14);
s.push(50);
return s;
}
public static void main(String[] args){
Stack s1 = GetStackB4Generics();
int sum1 = 0;
while(!s1.empty()){
sum1 += (Integer) s1.pop(); //cast
}
System.out.println("Sum of stack 1 is " + sum1);
Stack<Integer> s2 = GetStackAfterGenerics();
int sum2 = 0;
while(!s2.empty()){
sum2 += s2.pop(); //no cast
}
System.out.println("Sum of stack 2 is " + sum2);
}
}

Although similar in concept to templates in C++, the Generics feature in C# and Java is not
implemented similarly. In Java, the generic functionality is implemented using type erasure.
Specically the generic type information is present only at compile time, after which it is erased by the
compiler and all the type declarations are replaced with Object. The compiler then automatically inserts
casts in the right places. The reason for this approach is that it provides total interoperability between
generic code and legacy code that doesn't support generics. The main problem with type erasure is
that the generic type information is not available at run time via reection or run time type

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identication. Another consequence of this approach is that generic data structures types must always
be declared using objects and not primitive types. Thus one must create Stack<Integer> instead of
Stack<int> when working integers.
In C#, there is explicit support for generics in the .NET runtime's instruction language (IL). When the
generic type is compiled, the generated IL contains place holders for specic types. At runtime, when
an initial reference is made to a generic type (e.g. List<int>) the system looks to see if anyone already
asked for the type or not. If the type has been previously requested, then the previously generated
specic type is returned. If not, the JIT compiler instantiates a new type by replacing the generic type
parameters in the IL with the specic type (e.g. replacing List<T> with List<int>). It should be noted that
if the requested type is a reference type as opposed to a value type then the generic type parameter is
replaced with Object. However there is no casting done internally by the .NET runtime when accessing
the type.
In certain cases, one may need create a method that can operate on data structures containing any
type as opposed to those that contain a specic type (e.g. a method to print all the objects in a data
structure) while still taking advantage of the benets of strong typing in generics. The mechanism for
specifying this in C# is via a feature called generic type inferencing while in Java this is done using
wildcard types. The following code samples show how both approaches lead to the same result.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Test{
//Prints the contents of any generic Stack by
//using generic type inference
public static void PrintStackContents<T>(Stack<T> s){
while(s.Count != 0){
Console.WriteLine(s.Pop());
}
}
public static void Main(String[] args){
Stack<int> s2 = new Stack<int>();
s2.Push(4);
s2.Push(5);
s2.Push(6);
PrintStackContents(s2);
Stack<string> s1 = new Stack<string>();
s1.Push("One");
s1.Push("Two");
s1.Push("Three");
PrintStackContents(s1);
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
class Test{
//Prints the contents of any generic Stack by
//specifying wildcard type
public static void PrintStackContents(Stack<?> s){
while(!s.empty()){
System.out.println(s.pop());
}
}
public static void main(String[] args){
Stack <Integer> s2 = new Stack <Integer>();

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s2.push(4);
s2.push(5);
s2.push(6);
PrintStackContents(s2);
Stack<String> s1 = new Stack<String>();
s1.push("One");
s1.push("Two");
s1.push("Three");
PrintStackContents(s1);
}
}

Both C# and Java provide mechanisms for specifying constraints on generic types. In C# there are
three types of constraints that can be applied to generic types
1. A derivation constraint indicates to the compiler that the generic type parameter derives from a
base type such an interface or a particular base class
2. A default constructor constraint indicates to the compiler that the generic type parameter
exposes a public default constructor
3. A reference/value type constraint constrains the generic type parameter to be a reference or a
value type.
In Java, only the derivation constraint is supported. The following code sample shows how constraints
are used in practice.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
public class Mammal {
public Mammal(){;}
public virtual void Speak(){;}
}
public class Cat : Mammal{
public Cat(){;}
public override void Speak(){
Console.WriteLine("Meow");
}
}
public class Dog : Mammal{
public Dog(){;}
public override void Speak(){
Console.WriteLine("Woof");
}
}

public class MammalHelper<T> where T: Mammal /* derivation constraint */,

new() /* default constructor constraint */{
public static T CreatePet(){
return new T();
}

public static void AnnoyNeighbors(Stack<T> pets){

while(pets.Count != 0){
Mammal m = pets.Pop();
m.Speak();
}
}
}

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public class Test{

public static void Main(String[] args){
Stack<Mammal> s2 = new Stack<Mammal>();
s2.Push(MammalHelper<Dog>.CreatePet());
s2.Push(MammalHelper<Cat>.CreatePet());
MammalHelper<Mammal>.AnnoyNeighbors(s2);
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
abstract class Mammal {
public abstract void speak();
}
class Cat extends Mammal{
public void speak(){
System.out.println("Meow");
}
}
class Dog extends Mammal{
public void speak(){
System.out.println("Woof");
}
}
public class Test{
//derivation constraint applied to pets parameter
public static void AnnoyNeighbors(Stack<? extends Mammal> pets){
while(!pets.empty()){
Mammal m = pets.pop();
m.speak();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args){
Stack<Mammal> s2 = new Stack<Mammal>();
s2.push(new Dog());
s2.push(new Cat());
AnnoyNeighbors(s2);
}
}

C# also includes the default operator which returns the default value for a type. The default value for
reference types is null, and the default value for value types (such as integers, enum, and structures) is
a zero whitewash (lling the structure with zeros). This operator is very useful when combined with
generics. The following code sample excercises the functionality of this operator.
C# Code
using System;
public class Test{
public static T GetDefaultForType(){
return default(T); //return default value of type T
}
public static void Main(String[] args){
Console.WriteLine(GetDefaultForType<int>());
Console.WriteLine(GetDefaultForType<string>());
Console.WriteLine(GetDefaultForType<float>());

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}
}

15. for-each Loop

The for-each loop is an iteration construct that is popular in a number of scripting languages (e.g. Perl,
PHP, Tcl/Tk), build tools (GNU Make) and function libraries (e.g. for_each in <algorithm> in C++). The
for-each loop is a less verbose way to iterate through arrays or classes that implement the the
System.Collections.IEnumerable interface in C# or the java.lang.Iterable interface in Java.
In C#, the keywords foreach and
for and the operator : are used.

in

are used when creating the for-each loop while in Java the keyword

C# Code
string[] greek_alphabet = {"alpha", "beta", "gamma", "delta", "epsilon"};
foreach(string str in greek_alphabet)
Console.WriteLine(str + " is a letter of the greek alphabet");
Java Code
String[] greek_alphabet = {"alpha", "beta", "gamma", "delta", "epsilon"};
for(String str : greek_alphabet)
System.out.println(str + " is a letter of the greek alphabet");

16. Metadata Annotations

Metadata annotations provide a powerful way to extend the capabilities of a programming language
and the language runtime. These annotations can be directives that request the runtime to perform
certain additional tasks, provide extra information about an item or extend the abilities of a type.
Metadata annotations are common in a number of programming environments including Microsoft's
COM and the Linux kernel.
C# attributes provide a way to add annotations (i.e. metadata) to a module, type, method, parameter
or member variable. Below are descriptions of a few attributes that are intrinsic to .NET and how they
are used to extend the capabilities of the C#.
I.

II.

III.

[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]:

is used to specify that a access to a method by multiple

threads is protected by a lock to prevent concurrent access to the method and is similar to the
synchronized in Java.
[Serializable]:

is used to mark a class as serializable and is similar to a Java class implementing the
Serializable interface.
[FlagsAttribute]:

is used to specify that an enum should support bitwise operations. This is

particularly important for enumerations where the target can have multiple values.
C# Code
//declaration of bit field enumeration
[Flags]
enum ProgrammingLanguages{
C
= 1,
Lisp = 2,
Basic = 4,
All = C | Lisp | Basic
}
aProgrammer.KnownLanguages = ProgrammingLanguages.Lisp; //set known languages ="Lisp"
aProgrammer.KnownLanguages |= ProgrammingLanguages.C; //set known languages ="Lisp C"
aProgrammer.KnownLanguages &= ~ProgrammingLanguages.Lisp; //set known languages ="C"
if((aProgrammer.KnownLanguages & ProgrammingLanguages.C) > 0){ //if programmer knows C

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//.. do something
}

IV.

[WebMethod]:

is used in combination with ASP.NET to specify that a method should be available over
the web as a web service automatically. Doing the same in Java involves conguring JAXP, UDDI,
and J2EE as well as have to create an Enterprise Java Bean which involves at least two interfaces
and one implementation class plus setting up the deployment descriptor. For more information on
webservices in C#, examine the Your First C# Web Service page on CodeProject.

It is possible to access the attributes of a module, class, method or eld via reection. This is
particularly useful for seeing if a class supports certain behavior at runtime or for extracting metadata
about a class for usage by others. Developers can create their own custom attributes by subclassing
the System.Attribute class. What follows is an example of using an attribute to provide information about
the author of a class then using reection to access that information.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Reflection;
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class)]
public class AuthorInfoAttribute: System.Attribute{
string author;
string email;
string version;

public AuthorInfoAttribute(string author, string email){

this.author = author;
this.email = email;
}

public string Version{

get{
return version;
}
set{
version = value;
}
}

public string Email{

get{
return email;
}
}
public string Author{

get{
return author;
}
}
}

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[AuthorInfo("Dare Obasanjo", "kpako@yahoo.com", Version="1.0")]

class HelloWorld{
}

class AttributeTest{
public static void Main(string[] args){
/* Get Type object of HelloWorld class */
Type t = typeof(HelloWorld);
Console.WriteLine("Author Information for " + t);
Console.WriteLine("=================================");
foreach(AuthorInfoAttribute att in t.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(AuthorInfoAttribute), false)){
Console.WriteLine("Author: " + att.Author);
Console.WriteLine("Email: " + att.Email);
Console.WriteLine("Version: " + att.Version);
}//foreach
}//Main
}

Java annotations provide a way to add annotations (i.e. metadata) to an package, type, method,
parameter, member or local variable. There are only three built-in annotations provided in the Java
language which are listed below.
I.

II.

III.

@Override:

is used to specify that a method is intended to override a method in a base class. If the
annotated method does not override a method in the base class then an error is issued during
compilation.
@Deprecated:

is used to indicate that a particular method has been deprecated. If the annotated
method is used then a warning is issued during compilation.
@SuppressWarnings:

is used to prevent particular warnings from being issued by the compiler. This
annotation optionally takes the name of the specic warning to suppress as an argument.

As in C# it is possible to access the annotations on a module, class, method or eld via reection.
However a key dierence between C# attributes and Java annotations is that one can create
meta-annotations (i.e. annotations on annotations) in Java but can not do the same in C#. Developers
can create their own custom annotations by creating an annotation type which is similar to an
interface except that the keyword @interface is used to dene it. What follows is an example of using an
attribute to provide information about the author of a class then using reection to access that
information.
Java Code
import java.lang.annotation.*;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
@Documented //we want the annotation to show up in the Javadocs
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) //we want annotation metadata to be exposed at runtime
@interface AuthorInfo{
String author();
String email();
String version() default "1.0";
}
@AuthorInfo(author="Dare Obasanjo", email="kpako@yahoo.com")
class HelloWorld{
}

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public class Test{

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
/* Get Class object of HelloWorld class */
Class c = Class.forName("HelloWorld");
AuthorInfo a = (AuthorInfo) c.getAnnotation(AuthorInfo.class);
System.out.println("Author Information for " + c);
System.out.println("=======================================");
System.out.println("Author: " + a.author());
System.out.println("Email: " + a.email());
System.out.println("Version: " + a.version());
}
}

17. Enumerations
Enums are used to create and group together a list of user dened named constants. Although on the
surface the enumerated types in C# and Java seem quite similar there are some signicant dierences
in the implementation of enumerated types in both languages. In Java, enumerated types are a full
edged class which means they are typesafe and can be extended by adding methods, elds or even
implementing interfaces. Whereas in C#, an enumerated type is simply syntactic sugar around an
integral type (typically an int) meaning they cannot be extended and are not typesafe.
The following code sample highlights the dierences between enums in both languages.
C# Code
using System;
public enum DaysOfWeek{
SUNDAY,
MONDAY,
TUESDAY,
WEDNESDAY,
THURSDAY,
FRIDAY,
SATURDAY
}
public class Test{
public static bool isWeekDay(DaysOfWeek day){
return !isWeekEnd(day);
}
public static bool isWeekEnd(DaysOfWeek day){
return (day == DaysOfWeek.SUNDAY || day == DaysOfWeek.SATURDAY);
}
public static void Main(String[] args){
DaysOfWeek sun = DaysOfWeek.SUNDAY;
Console.WriteLine("Is " + sun + " a weekend? " + isWeekEnd(sun));
Console.WriteLine("Is " + sun + " a week day? " + isWeekDay(sun));
/* Example of how C# enums are not type safe */
sun = (DaysOfWeek) 1999;
Console.WriteLine(sun);
}
}
Java Code
enum DaysOfWeek{
SUNDAY,
MONDAY,
TUESDAY,
WEDNESDAY,

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THURSDAY,
FRIDAY,
SATURDAY;
public boolean isWeekDay(){
return !isWeekEnd();
}
public boolean isWeekEnd(){
return (this == SUNDAY || this == SATURDAY);
}
}
public class Test{
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
DaysOfWeek sun = DaysOfWeek.SUNDAY;
System.out.println("Is " + sun + " a weekend? " + sun.isWeekEnd());
System.out.println("Is " + sun + " a week day? " + sun.isWeekDay());
}
}

An Ever So Slight Feeling Of Dj Vu

1. Nested classes
In Java and C# it is possible to nest class declarations within each other. In Java there are two kinds of
nested classes; non-static nested classes also known as inner classes and static nested classes. A Java
inner class can be considered as a one-to-one relationship between the inner class and its enclosing
class where for each instance of the enclosing class there exists a corresponding instance of the inner
class that has access to the enclosing class's instance variables and contains no static methods. On the
other hand a Java static nested class is a similar to nesting a class decaration within another where the
nested class has access to the static members and methods of the enclosing class.
C# has the equivalent of Java's static nested classes but has nothing analogous to Java's inner classes.
The following nested class declarations below are equivalent
C# Code
public class Car{
private Engine engine;
private class Engine{
string make;
}
}
Java Code
public class Car{
private Engine engine;
private static class Engine{
String make;
}
}

NOTE: In Java a nested class can be declared in any block of code including methods, this is not the

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case in C#. The ability to create nested classes in methods in Java may seem unnecessary but
combined with anonymous inner classes can provide a means of creating powerful design patterns.
2. Threads and Volatile Members
A thread is a sequential ow of control within a program. A program or process can have multiple
threads running concurrently all of which may share data or run independently while performing
tasks. Threads are powerful in that they allow a developer to perform multiple tasks at once in a single
program or process. Advantages of threads include exploiting parallelism in multiprocessor
architectures, reducing execution time by being able to perform tasks while waiting on a blocking
system calls (such as printing or other I/O), and avoiding freezing in GUI applications.
Java threads are created by subclassing the java.lang.Thread class and overriding its run() method or by
implementing the java.lang.Runnable interface and implementing the run() method. Whereas in C#, one
creates a thread by creating a new System.Threading.Thread object and passing it a
System.Threading.ThreadStart delegate which is initialized with the method that is to be run as a thread.
Thus, in Java a method that shall run in a multithreaded context is designed up front specically with
that in mind. On the other hand, in C# any method can be passed to a ThreadStart object and run in a
multithreaded scenario.
In Java, every class inherits the wait(), notify() and notifyAll() from java.lang.Object which are used for
thread operations. The equivalent methods in C# are the Wait(), Pulse() and PulseAll() methods in the
System.Threading.Monitor class.
The example below shows a scenario where worker threads are dispatched in a specic order and
must be processed in the same order upon return. Due to the non-deterministic nature of threads, on
some runs the threads nish working in the order they were dispatched in and in other runs they
appear out of order and thus each thread must wait until its turn comes up.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Collections;
public class WorkerThread{
private int idNumber;
private static int num_threads_made = 1;
private ThreadSample owner;
public WorkerThread(ThreadSample owner){
idNumber = num_threads_made;
num_threads_made++;
this.owner = owner;
}/* WorkerThread() */
//sleeps for a random amount of time to simulate working on a task
public void PerformTask(){
Random r = new Random((int) DateTime.Now.Ticks);
int timeout = (int) r.Next() % 1000;
if(timeout < 0)
timeout *= -1;
//Console.WriteLine(idNumber + ":A");
try{
Thread.Sleep(timeout);
} catch (ThreadInterruptedException e){
Console.WriteLine("Thread #" + idNumber + " interrupted");
}

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//Console.WriteLine(idNumber + ":B");
owner.workCompleted(this);
}/* performTask() */

public int getIDNumber() {return idNumber;}

} // WorkerThread

public class ThreadSample {

private static Mutex m = new Mutex();
private ArrayList threadOrderList = new ArrayList();
private int NextInLine(){
return (int) threadOrderList[0];
}
private void RemoveNextInLine(){
threadOrderList.RemoveAt(0);
//all threads have shown up
if(threadOrderList.Count == 0)
Environment.Exit(0);
}

public void workCompleted(WorkerThread worker){

try{
lock(this){

while(worker.getIDNumber() != NextInLine()){
try {
//wait for some other thread to finish working
Console.WriteLine ("Thread #" + worker.getIDNumber() + " is waiting for Thread #" +
NextInLine() + " to show up.");
Monitor.Wait(this, Timeout.Infinite);
} catch (ThreadInterruptedException e) {}
}//while

Console.WriteLine("Thread #" + worker.getIDNumber() + " is home free");

//remove this ID number from the list of threads yet to be seen
RemoveNextInLine();
//tell the other threads to resume
Monitor.PulseAll(this);
}
}catch(SynchronizationLockException){Console.WriteLine("SynchronizationLockException occurred");}
}
public static void Main(String[] args){

ThreadSample ts = new ThreadSample();

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/* Launch 25 threads */
for(int i=1; i <= 25; i++){
WorkerThread wt = new WorkerThread(ts);
ts.threadOrderList.Add(i);
Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(wt.PerformTask));
t.Start();
}
Thread.Sleep(3600000); //wait for it all to end
}/* main(String[]) */

}//ThreadSample
Java Code
import java.util.*;

class WorkerThread extends Thread{

private Integer idNumber;
private static int num_threads_made = 1;
private ThreadSample owner;
public WorkerThread(ThreadSample owner){
super("Thread #" + num_threads_made);
idNumber = new Integer(num_threads_made);
num_threads_made++;
this.owner = owner;
start(); //calls run and starts the thread.
}/* WorkerThread() */
//sleeps for a random amount of time to simulate working on a task
public void run(){
Random r = new Random(System.currentTimeMillis());
int timeout = r.nextInt() % 1000;
if(timeout < 0)
timeout *= -1 ;
try{
Thread.sleep(timeout);
} catch (InterruptedException e){
System.out.println("Thread #" + idNumber + " interrupted");
}
owner.workCompleted(this);
}/* run() */

public Integer getIDNumber() {return idNumber;}

} // WorkerThread

public class ThreadSample{

private Vector threadOrderList = new Vector();
private Integer nextInLine(){
return (Integer) threadOrderList.firstElement();
}

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private void removeNextInLine(){

threadOrderList.removeElementAt(0);
//all threads have shown up
if(threadOrderList.isEmpty())
System.exit(0);
}
public synchronized void workCompleted(WorkerThread worker){

while(worker.getIDNumber().equals(nextInLine())==false){
try {
//wait for some other thread to finish working
System.out.println (Thread.currentThread().getName() + " is waiting for Thread #" +
nextInLine() + " to show up.");
wait();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {}
}//while
System.out.println("Thread #" + worker.getIDNumber() + " is home free");
//remove this ID number from the list of threads yet to be seen
removeNextInLine();
//tell the other threads to resume
notifyAll();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException{

ThreadSample ts = new ThreadSample();

/* Launch 25 threads */
for(int i=1; i <= 25; i++){
new WorkerThread(ts);
ts.threadOrderList.add(new Integer(i));
}
Thread.sleep(3600000); //wait for it all to end
}/* main(String[]) */

}//ThreadSample

In many situations one cannot guarantee that the order of execution of a program will be the same as
that in the source code. Reasons for the unexpected ordering of program execution include compiler
optimizations that reorder statements or mulitiprocessor systems that fail to store variables in global
memory amongst others. To work around this, both C# and Java have the concept of the volatile
keyword which is used to tell the language runtime that reordering instructions related to accessing
such elds is prohibited. There are major dierences in the semantics of volatile in Java and C#
which are illustrated in the example below taken from The "Double-Checked Locking is Broken"
Declaration
C# Code
/* Used to lazily instantiate a singleton class */
/*
WORKS AS EXPECTED
*/
class Foo {
private volatile Helper helper = null;
public Helper getHelper() {
if (helper == null) {
lock(this) {
if (helper == null)
helper = new Helper();

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}
}
return helper;
}
}

Java Code
/* Used to lazily instantiate a singleton class */
/* BROKEN UNDER CURRENT SEMANTICS FOR VOLATILE */
class Foo {
private volatile Helper helper = null;
public Helper getHelper() {
if (helper == null) {
synchronized(this) {
if (helper == null)
helper = new Helper();
}
}
return helper;
}
}

Although the above code snippets seem identical save for the substitution of the synchronized keyword
with the lock keyword, the Java version is not guaranteed to work on all JVMs. Currently the Java
Memory Model does not prevent reordering of writes to volatile variables with writes to other
variables so it is possible that the new object is constructed before the helper reference is made to
point at the newly created object meaning that two objects are created. Also it is possible that the
helper reference is made to point at a block of memory while the object is still being created meaning
that a reference to an incomplete object will be returned. In C#, the semantics of volatile prevent such
problems from occurring because reads and writes cannot be moved backward or forward across a
volatile write. Also in C#, being marked as volatile also prevents the Just In Time compiler from
placing the variable in a register and also ensures that the variable is stored in global memory on
multiprocessor systems.
For more information on the problems with the Java Memory Model and Double-Checked Locking, see
the Double-checked locking: Clever, but broken article on Javaworld.
3. Operator Overloading
Operator overloading allows standard operators in a language to be given new semantics when applied
in the context of a particular class or type. Operator overloading can be used to simplify the syntax of
certain operations especially when they are performed very often, such as string concatenation in Java
or interactions with iterators and collections in the C++ Standard Template Library.
Operator overloading is a point of contention for many developers due to the fact that it provides a lot
of exibility and power which makes it prone to abuse. There is a tendency for developers to use it
poorly by doings like overloading operators in an unintuitive manner (e.g. overloading ++ and -- to
connect and disconnect from the network) , overloading operators in a manner inconsistent with their
typical use (e.g. overloading [ ] to return a copy of an object at a particular index in a collection
instead of a reference to the actual object) or overloading some operators and not others (e.g.
overloading < but not >).
Overloading operators tends to be most useful when the class lends itself intuitively to using that
operator. Examples of situations that intuitively suggest that operator overloading would be benecial
are overloading [ ] for use with collections, overloading + and * for use with matrices, overloading
mathematical operators for use with complex numbers, and overloading the == and != operators for
classes that have some means to measure equality. Below is an example that shows how operator
overloading works in C#.

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NOTE: Unlike C++, C# does not allow the overloading of the following operators; new, ( ), ||, &&, =, or
any variations of compound assignments such as +=, -=, etc. However, compound assignment operators
will call overloaded operators, for instance, += would call overloaded +.
C# Code
using System;
class OverloadedNumber{
private int value;
public OverloadedNumber(int value){
this.value = value;
}
public override string ToString(){
return value.ToString();
}

public static OverloadedNumber operator -(OverloadedNumber number){

return new OverloadedNumber(-number.value);
}
public static OverloadedNumber operator +(OverloadedNumber number1, OverloadedNumber number2){
return new OverloadedNumber(number1.value + number2.value);
}
public static OverloadedNumber operator ++(OverloadedNumber number){
return new OverloadedNumber(number.value + 1);
}
}
public class OperatorOverloadingTest {

public static void Main(string[] args){

OverloadedNumber number1 = new OverloadedNumber(12);
OverloadedNumber number2 = new OverloadedNumber(125);
Console.WriteLine("Increment: {0}", ++number1);
Console.WriteLine("Addition: {0}", number1 + number2);
}
} // OperatorOverloadingTest

4. switch Statment
There are two major dierences between the switch statement in C# versus that in Java. In C#, switch
statements support the use of string literals and do not allow fall-through unless the label contains no
statements. Fall-throughs are explicitly disallowed because they are a leading cause of hard-to-nd
bugs in software.
C# Code
switch(foo){
case "A":
Console.WriteLine("A seen");
break;
case "B":
case "C":
Console.WriteLine("B or C seen");
break;
/* ERROR: Won't compile due to fall-through at case "D" */

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case "D":
Console.WriteLine("D seen");
case "E":
Console.WriteLine("E seen");
break;
}

5. Assemblies
C# assemblies share a lot in common with Java JAR les. An assembly is the fundamental unit of code
packaging in the .NET environment. Assemblies are self contained and typically contain the
intermediate code from compiling classes, metadata about the classes, and any other les needed by
the packaged code to perform its task.
Since assemblies are the fundamental unit of code packaging, several actions related to interacting
with types must be done at the assembly level. For instance, granting of security permissions, code
deployment, and versioning are done at the assembly level. Java JAR les perform a similar task in Java
with most dierences being in the implementation. Assemblies are usually stored as EXEs or DLLs
while JAR les are stored in the ZIP le format.
6. Collections
A number of popular programming languages contain a collections framework which typically consists
of a number of data structures for holding multiple objects as well as algorithms for manipulating the
objects within the aforementioned data structures. The primary advantage of a collections framework
is that it frees developers from having to write data structures and sort algorithms every time one is
needed and instead frees them up to work on the actual application logic. A secondary benet is that
collections frameworks lead to consistency across projects which means the learning curve for new
developers using applications that use a collections framework is less steep when compared to a
situation where one was not used.
The C# collections framework consists of the classes in the System.Collections and the
System.Collections.Generic namespaces. The Systems.Collections namespace contains interfaces and abstract
classes that represent abstract data types such as IList, IEnumerable, IDictionary, ICollection, and
CollectionBase which enable developers to manipulate data structures independently of how they are
actually implemented as long as the data structures inherit from the abstract data types. The
System.Collections namespace also contains some concrete implementations of data structures such as
ArrayList, Stack, Queue, HashTable and SortedList. All four of the concrete data structure
implementations enable one to obtain synchronized wrappers to the collection which allows for access
in a thread-safe manner. The System.Collections.Generic namespace has generic implementations of the
key data structures in the System.Collections namespace including generic List<T>,
Stack<T>,Queue<T>, Dictionary<K,T> and SortedDictionary<K,T> classes .
The Java collections framework consists of a large number of the classes and interfaces in the java.util
package. Instead of having a separate namespace for generic collections, the collections in the java.util
package have been retrotted to support generics. The Java collection framework is similar to that in
C# except for the fact that it can be considered a superset of the C# collection framework since it
contains a number of extra features. The Java collection framework contains data structures that are
missing from those in C# such as sets and linked lists. Also the Java collections framework not only
has methods that enable one to access unsafe collections in a thread safe manner but contains
thread-safe versions of most of the data structures as well. Finally, the Java collections framework has
a number of algorithms for manipulating the elements within the data structures including algorithms
that can do the following; nd the largest element based on some Comparator, nd the smallest
element, nd sublists within a list, reverse the contents of a list, shue the contents of a list, creates
immutable versions of a colection, performs sorts, and binary searches.
At the current time, the Java collections framework is more sophisticated than that available in .NET
via C#.

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7. goto (no longer considered harmful)

Unlike Java, C# contains the goto statement which can be used to jump directly from a point in the
code to a label. Although much derided, gotos can be used in certain situations to reduce code
duplication while enhancing readability. A secondary usage of the goto statement is the ability to mimic
resumeable exceptions like those in Smalltalk, as long as the exception thrown does not cross method
boundaries.
NOTE: In C#, one cannot jump into a statement block using the

goto

statement;

C# Code
using System;
using System.Net.Sockets;
class GotoSample{

public static void Main(string[] args){

int num_tries = 0;
retry:
try{
num_tries++;
Console.WriteLine("Attempting to connect to network. Number of tries =" + num_tries);
//Attempt to connect to a network times out
//or some some other network connection error that
//can be recovered from
throw new SocketException();
}catch(SocketException){
if(num_tries < 5)
goto retry;
}
}/* Main(string[]) */
}//GotoSample

8. Virtual Methods (and nal ones too)

One of the tenets of object oriented programming is polymorphism. Polymorphism enables one to
interact with members of a type hierarchy as generic types instead of dealing with specic types. The
means of implementing polymorphism typically involves having methods in a base class that may be
overidden by derived classes. These methods can be invoked even though the client has a reference to
a base class type which points to an object of the derived class. Such methods are bound at runtime
instead of being bound during compilation and are typically called virtual methods.
In Java all methods are virtual methods while in C#, as in C++, one must explicitly state which
methods one wants to be virtual since by default they are not. To mark a method as virtual in C#, one
uses the virtual keyword. Also, implementers of a child class can decide to either explicitly override the
virtual method by using the override keyword or explicitly choose not to by using the new keyword
instead. By default, in C#, the behavior of methods in a derived class that have the same signature as
those in the base class is as if they were declared with the new keyword.
It is possible to mark methods as final in Java which means that the method cannot be overridden by
derived classes. In C# this can be done by not marking the method as virtual. The major dierence is
that in C#, the class can still dene the method but the base class version is the one that will be called
if the object is used via a base class reference. Java disallows the derived class from containing a

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method that has the same signature as the nal base class method.
Below are examples that show the dierences in virtual methods in both languages.
C# Code
using System;
public class Parent{
public void DoStuff(string str){
Console.WriteLine("In Parent.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}
public class Child: Parent{
public void DoStuff(int n){
Console.WriteLine("In Child.DoStuff: " + n);
}
public void DoStuff(string str){
Console.WriteLine("In Child.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}

public class VirtualTest{

public static void Main(string[] args){
Child ch = new Child();
ch.DoStuff(100);
ch.DoStuff("Test");
((Parent) ch).DoStuff("Second Test");
}
}//VirtualTest
OUTPUT:
In Child.DoStuff: 100
In Child.DoStuff: Test
In Parent.DoStuff: Second Test
Java Code
class Parent{
public void DoStuff(String str){
System.out.println("In Parent.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}
class Child extends Parent{
public void DoStuff(int n){
System.out.println("In Child.DoStuff: " + n);
}
public void DoStuff(String str){
System.out.println("In Child.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}

public class VirtualTest{

public static void main(String[] args){
Child ch = new Child();

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ch.DoStuff(100);
ch.DoStuff("Test");
((Parent) ch).DoStuff("Second Test");
}
}//VirtualTest
OUTPUT:
In Child.DoStuff: 100
In Child.DoStuff: Test
In Child.DoStuff: Second Test

The C# example can be made to produce the same output as the Java example by marking the
DoStu(string) method in the Parent class as virtual and marking the DoStu(string) method in the
Child class with the override keyword.
C# Code
using System;
public class Parent{
public virtual void DoStuff(string str){
Console.WriteLine("In Parent.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}
public class Child: Parent{
public void DoStuff(int n){
Console.WriteLine("In Child.DoStuff: " + n);
}
public override void DoStuff(string str){
Console.WriteLine("In Child.DoStuff: " + str);
}
}

public class VirtualTest{

public static void Main(string[] args){
Child ch = new Child();
ch.DoStuff(100);
ch.DoStuff("Test");
((Parent) ch).DoStuff("Second Test");
}
}//VirtualTest
OUTPUT:
In Child.DoStuff: 100
In Child.DoStuff: Test
In Child.DoStuff: Second Test

The above example can be made to produce the original results by altering the signature of the
DoStu(string) method in the Child class to
public new void DoStuff(string str)

which states that although the DoStu method is virtual in the base class, the child class would like to
treat it as a non-virtual method.

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9. File I/O
Both languages support performing I/O via Stream classes. The examples below copy the contents of a
le named "input.txt" to another called "output.txt".
C# Code
using System;
using System.IO;

public class FileIOTest {

public static void Main(string[] args){
FileStream inputFile = new FileStream("input.txt", FileMode.Open);
FileStream outputFile = new FileStream("output.txt", FileMode.Open);
StreamReader sr
StreamWriter sw

= new StreamReader(inputFile);
= new StreamWriter(outputFile);

String str;
while((str = sr.ReadLine())!= null)
sw.Write(str);
sr.Close();
sw.Close();
}
}//FileIOTest
Java Code
import java.io.*;
public class FileIO{
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
File inputFile = new File("input.txt");
File outputFile = new File("output.txt");
FileReader in
= new FileReader(inputFile);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(in);
FileWriter out
= new FileWriter(outputFile);
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(out);
String str;
while((str = br.readLine())!= null)
bw.write(str);
br.close();
bw.close();
}
}//FileIOTest

10. Object Serialization

Object Persistence also known as Serialization is the ability to read and write objects via a stream such
as a le or network socket. Object Persistence is useful in situations where the state of an object must
be retained across invocations of a program. Usually in such cases simply storing data in a at le is
insuicient yet using a Database Management System (DBMS) is overkill. Serialization is also useful as
a means of transferring the representation of a class in an automatic and fairly seamless manner.
Serializable objects in C# are annotated with the

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[Serializable]

attribute. The

[NonSerialized]

attribute is

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used to annote members of a C# class that should not be serialized by the runtime. Such elds are
usually calculated or temporary values that have no meaning when saved. C# provides two formats for
serializing classes; either as XML or in a binary format, the former is more readable by humans and
applications while the latter is more eicient. One can also dene custom ways an object is serialized if
the standard ways are insuicient by implementing the ISerializable interface.
In Java, serializable objects are those that implement the Serializable interface while the transient
keyword is used to mark members of a Java class as ones not to be serialized. By default Java supports
serializing objects to a binary format but does provide a way of overriding the standard serialization
process. Objects that plan to override default serializations can implement methods with the following
signatures
private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream stream) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream stream) throws IOException

Since the above methods are private there is no interface that can be implemented to indicate that a
Java class supports custom serialization using readObject and writeObject. For classes that need
publicly accessible methods for custom serialization there exists the java.io.Externalizable interface
which species the readExternal() and writeExternal() for use in customizing how an object is read and
written to a stream.
C# Code
using
using
using
using
using
using

System;
System.IO;
System.Reflection;
System.Runtime.Serialization;
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap;

[Serializable]
class SerializeTest{
[NonSerialized]
private int x;
private int y;
public SerializeTest(int a, int b){
x = a;
y = b;
}
public override String ToString(){
return "{x=" + x + ", y=" + y + "}";
}
public static void Main(String[] args){
SerializeTest st = new SerializeTest(66, 61);
Console.WriteLine("Before Binary Write := " + st);
Console.WriteLine("\n Writing SerializeTest object to disk");
Stream output = File.Create("serialized.bin");
BinaryFormatter bwrite = new BinaryFormatter();
bwrite.Serialize(output, st);
output.Close();
Console.WriteLine("\n Reading SerializeTest object from disk\n");
Stream input = File.OpenRead("serialized.bin");
BinaryFormatter bread = new BinaryFormatter();
SerializeTest fromdisk = (SerializeTest)bread.Deserialize(input);

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input.Close();

/* x will be 0 because it won't be read from disk since non-serialized */

Console.WriteLine("After Binary Read := " + fromdisk);

st = new SerializeTest(19, 99);

Console.WriteLine("\n\nBefore SOAP(XML) Serialization := " + st);
Console.WriteLine("\n Writing SerializeTest object to disk");
output = File.Create("serialized.xml");
SoapFormatter swrite = new SoapFormatter();
swrite.Serialize(output, st);
output.Close();
Console.WriteLine("\n Reading SerializeTest object from disk\n");
input = File.OpenRead("serialized.xml");
SoapFormatter sread = new SoapFormatter();
fromdisk = (SerializeTest)sread.Deserialize(input);
input.Close();

/* x will be 0 because it won't be read from disk since non-serialized */

Console.WriteLine("After SOAP(XML) Serialization := " + fromdisk);

Console.WriteLine("\n\nPrinting XML Representation of Object");

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load("serialized.xml");
Console.WriteLine(doc.OuterXml);
}
}
Java Code
import java.io.*;
class SerializeTest implements Serializable{
transient int x;
private int y;
public SerializeTest(int a, int b){
x = a;
y = b;
}
public String toString(){
return "{x=" + x + ", y=" + y + "}";
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
SerializeTest st = new SerializeTest(66, 61);
System.out.println("Before Write := " + st);
System.out.println("\n Writing SerializeTest object to disk");
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("serialized.txt");
ObjectOutputStream so = new ObjectOutputStream(out);
so.writeObject(st);
so.flush();
System.out.println("\n Reading SerializeTest object from disk\n");
FileInputStream in
= new FileInputStream("serialized.txt");
ObjectInputStream si
= new ObjectInputStream(in);

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SerializeTest fromdisk = (SerializeTest)si.readObject();

/* x will be 0 because it won't be read from disk since transient */
System.out.println("After Read := " + fromdisk);

}
}

11. Documentation Generation from Source Code Comments

Both C# and Java provide a mechanism for extracting specially formatted comments from source code
and placing them in an alternate document. These comments are typically API specications and are
very useful way to provide API documentation to the users of a library. The generated documentation
is also useful to share the specications for an API between designers, developers and QA.
Javadoc is the tool used to extract API documentation from source code. Javadoc generates HTML
documentation from the source code comment, an example of which is the Java Platform, Standard
Edition API Documentation which was all generated using Javadoc. Javadoc can be used to describe
information at the package, class, member and method level. Descriptions of classes and member
variables can be provided with the option to add references to other classes, class members and
methods.
Javadoc allows one to document the following metadata about a method:
Description of the method.
Exceptions thrown by the method.
Parameters the method accepts
Return type of the method.
Associated methods and members.
Indication as to whether the API has been deprecated or not.
Version of the API the method was rst added.
The deprecated information is also used by the compiler which issues a warning if a call to a method
marked with the deprecated tag is encountered during compilation.
Javadoc also provides the following information automatically:
Inherited API
List of derived classes
List of implementing classes for interfaces
Serialized form of the class
Alphabetical class listing.
Package hierarchy in a tree format.

Since Javadoc generates HTML documentation, it is valid to use HTML in Javadoc comments. There is
support for linking the generated documentation with other generated documentation available over
the web. Such linking is useful when one wants readers of the documentation to be able to read the
API documentation from the related sources. An example of this is the following generated
documentation which contains links to the Java 2 API documentation. If no such linking is specied
then the generated documentation contains no links to other API documentation. Below is an example
of how Javadoc comments are used
Java Code
/**
* Calculates the square of a number.
* @param num the number to calculate.
* @return the square of the number.

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* @exception NumberTooBigException this occurs if the square of the number

* is too big to be stored in an int.
*/
public static int square(int num) throws NumberTooBigException{}

C# uses XML as the format for the documentation. The generated documentation is an XML le that
contains the metadata specied by the user with very little additional information generated
automatically. All the C# XML documentation tags have an analogous Javadoc construct while the
same cannot be said for the Javadoc tags having C# XML documentation analogs. For instance, the
default C# XML documentation does not have analogs to Javadoc's @author, @version, or @deprecated tags
although such metadata can be generated by reecting on the assembly, as Microsoft's documentation
build process does. One could also create custom tags that are analogous to the Javadoc tags and more
but they would be ignored by standard tools used for handling C# XML documentation including
Visual Studio.NET. Also of note is that C#'s XML documentation when generated does not contain
metadata about the class such as listings of inherited API, derived classes or implementing interfaces.
Here is an example of an XML le generated from C# source code.
The primary benet of an XML format is that the documentation specication can now be used in many
dierent ways. XSLT stylesheets can then be used to convert the generated documentation to ASCII
text, HTML, or Postscript les. Also of note is that the generated documentation can be fed to tools
that use it for spec verication or other similar tasks. It should be noted that C# currently does not
have a tool analogous to Javadoc for converting the XML documentation into HTML. Microsoft is in the
process of developing such a tool which is currently codenamed SandCastle.
Below is an example of how C# XML documentation is used.
C# Code
///<summary>Calculates the square of a number.</summary>
///<param name="num">The number to calculate.</param>
///<return>The square of the number. </return>
///<exception>NumberTooBigException - this occurs if the square of the number
///is too big to be stored in an int. </exception>
public static int square(int num){}

12. Multiple Classes in a Single File

Multiple classes can be dened in a single le in both languages with some signicant dierences. In
Java, there can only be one class per source le that has public access and it must have the same name
as the source le minus the le extension. C# does not have a restriction on the number of public
classes that can exist in a source le and neither is there a requirement for the name of any of the
classes in the le to match that of the source le.
13. Importing Libraries
Using libraries in an application is a two-step process. First the needed libraries must be referenced
somewhere in the source le which is done via the using keyword in C# and the import keyword in Java.
Secondly, there must be a way to tell the compiler where to nd the location of the needed library.
Specifying the location of libraries that will be used by a Java program is done using the CLASSPATH
environment variable or the -classpath compiler option. Assembly locations are specied with the /r
compiler switch in C#.
14. Events
Event-driven programming is a programming model where objects can register themselves to be
notied of a specic occurrence or state change in another object. Event-driven programming is also
referred to as the publish-subscribe model or the observer design pattern and is very popular in
graphical user interface (GUI) programming. Java and C# both have mechanisms that support events
but there are signicant dierences. The typical publish-subscribe model has a one to many
relationship between an object (publisher) and its event handlers (subscribers). A subscriber is
registered by invoking a method on the publisher which then adds the subscriber to an internal

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collection of interested objects. When the state change that a registered subscriber is interested in
occurs, a method is invoked in the publisher that cycles through the collection of subscribers and
invokes a callback method on each one.
There is no general mechanism for event handling in Java. Instead there are design patterns that are
used by the GUI classes which developers can take their cue from. An event is typically a subclass of
the java.util.EventObject class, which has methods that enable setting or getting of the object that was
the source of the event. A subscriber in the Java model usually implements an interface that ends with
the word Listener (e.g. MouseListener, ActionListener, KeyListener, etc) which should contain a
callback method that would be called by the publisher on the occurrence of the event. The publisher
typically has a method that begins with add and ends with Listener (e.g. addMouseListener,
addActionListener, addKeyListener, etc) which is used to register subscribers. The publisher also has
remove methods for unregistering the subscribers. The aforementioned components are the primary
entities in an event-driven Java program.
C# uses delegates to provide an explicit mechanism for creating a publish-subscribe model. An event
is typically a subclass of the System.EventArgs class. Like all data classes, the event class should have a
constructor that allows complete initialization without calling any other methods so that you can pass
new YourEventArgs(inits) to the subscriber delegate. The publisher has a protected method preceded
with the word "On" (e.g. OnClick, OnClose, OnInit, etc) which is invoked when a specied event
occurs, this method would then invoke the delegate passing it the source and an instance of the
EventArgs object. Making the method protected allows derived classes to call it directly without the
need to register a delegate. The subscriber is a method that accepts the same argument and returns
the same type as the event delegate. The event delegate usually returns void and accepts two
parameters; an Object which should be the source of the event and the EventArgs subclass which
should represent the event that occured.
In C#, the event is used to automatically specify that a eld within a subscriber is a delegate that will
be used as a callback during an event-driven situation. During compilation the compiler adds
overloaded versions of the += and -= operators that are analogous to the add and remove methods that
are used in Java to register and unregister a subscriber.
The example below shows a class that generates 20 random numbers and res an event whenever one
of the numbers is even.
C# Code
using System;
class EvenNumberEvent: EventArgs{
/* HACK: fields are typically private, but making this internal so it
* can be accessed from other classes. In practice should use properties.
*/
internal int number;
public EvenNumberEvent(int number):base(){
this.number = number;
}
}
class Publisher{
public delegate void EvenNumberSeenHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
public event EvenNumberSeenHandler EvenNumHandler;
protected void OnEvenNumberSeen(int num){
if(EvenNumHandler!= null)
EvenNumHandler(this, new EvenNumberEvent(num));
}

//generates 20 random numbers between 1 and 20 then causes and

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//event to occur if the current number is even.

public void RunNumbers(){
Random r = new Random((int) DateTime.Now.Ticks);
for(int i=0; i < 20; i++){
int current = (int) r.Next(20);
Console.WriteLine("Current number is:" + current);
//check if number is even and if so initiate callback call
if((current % 2) == 0)
OnEvenNumberSeen(current);
}//for
}

}//Publisher

public class EventTest{

//callback function that will be called when even number is seen
public static void EventHandler(object sender, EventArgs e){
Console.WriteLine("\t\tEven Number Seen:" + ((EvenNumberEvent)e).number);
}

public static void Main(string[] args){

Publisher pub = new Publisher();
//register the callback/subscriber
pub.EvenNumHandler += new Publisher.EvenNumberSeenHandler(EventHandler);
pub.RunNumbers();
//unregister the callback/subscriber
pub.EvenNumHandler -= new Publisher.EvenNumberSeenHandler(EventHandler);
}
}
Java Code
import java.util.*;
class EvenNumberEvent extends EventObject{
public int number;
public EvenNumberEvent(Object source, int number){
super(source);
this.number = number;
}
}
interface EvenNumberSeenListener{
void evenNumberSeen(EvenNumberEvent ene);
}
class Publisher{
Vector subscribers = new Vector();

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private void OnEvenNumberSeen(int num){

for(int i=0, size = subscribers.size(); i < size; i++)
((EvenNumberSeenListener)subscribers.get(i)).evenNumberSeen(new EvenNumberEvent(this, num));
}

public void addEvenNumberEventListener(EvenNumberSeenListener ensl){

subscribers.add(ensl);
}
public void removeEvenNumberEventListener(EvenNumberSeenListener ensl){
subscribers.remove(ensl);
}
//generates 20 random numbers between 1 and 20 then causes and
//event to occur if the current number is even.
public void RunNumbers(){
Random r = new Random(System.currentTimeMillis());
for(int i=0; i < 20; i++){
int current = (int) r.nextInt() % 20;
System.out.println("Current number is:" + current);
//check if number is even and if so initiate callback call
if((current % 2) == 0)
OnEvenNumberSeen(current);
}//for
}

}//Publisher

public class EventTest implements EvenNumberSeenListener{

//callback function that will be called when even number is seen
public void evenNumberSeen(EvenNumberEvent e){
System.out.println("\t\tEven Number Seen:" + ((EvenNumberEvent)e).number);
}

public static void main(String[] args){

EventTest et = new EventTest();
Publisher pub = new Publisher();
//register the callback/subscriber
pub.addEvenNumberEventListener(et);
pub.RunNumbers();
//unregister the callback/subscriber
pub.removeEvenNumberEventListener(et);
}
}

15. Cross Language Interoperability

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Cross language interoperability is the ability to access constructs written in one programming
language from another. There are a number of ways cross language interoperability works in Java.
First of all, there is the Java Native Interface (JNI) which is a mechanism that allows Java programs
call native methods written in C, C++ or assembly language. The C, C++ or assembly methods
methods must be specically written to be called from Java. Native methods can use JNI to access Java
features such as calling Java language methods, instantiating and modifying Java classes, throwing and
catching exceptions, performing runtime type checking, and loading Java classes dynamically. To
create a JNI program one performs the following steps:
1. Create a Java program that contains the declaration of the native method(s) marked with the
native keyword.
2. Write a main method that loads the library created in step 6 and uses the native method(s).
3. Compile the class containing the declaration of the native method(s) and the main with the javac
compiler.
4. Use the javah compiler with the -jni compiler option to generate a header le for the native
method(s).
5. Write the native method in your language of choice (currently C, C++ or assembly).
6. Compile the header le and native source le into a shared library (i.e. a .dll on Windows or a .so
le on UNIX).

Java also has the ability to interact with distributed objects that use the common object request broker
architecture (CORBA) via Java IDL. CORBA is a technology that allows developers to make procedure
calls on objects in a location and language agnostic manner. A CORBA application usually consists of
an object request broker (ORB), a client and a server. An ORB is responsible for matching a requesting
client to the server that will perform the request, using an object reference to locate the target object.
When the ORB examines the object reference and checks if the target object is remote or not. If the
target of the call is local then the ORB performs an inter-process communication (IPC) call. On calls to
remote objects the ORB marshals the arguments and routes the invocation out over the network to the
remote object's ORB. The remote ORB then invokes the method locally and sends the results back to
the client via the network. CORBA has a language-agnostic interface denition language (IDL) which
for which languages that support CORBA have various mappings. Java IDL supports the mappings
from Java objects to CORBA IDL objects. Various ORBs support CORBA language bindings for a
number of languages including C, C++, Java, Python, Lisp, Perl, and Scheme.
The most seamless way to do cross language interop in Java is when the language is compiled directly
to Java byte code. This means that objects in that language are available to Java programs and Java
objects are available to programs written in the target language. A good example of this is the Jython
scripting language which is a version of the Python programming language that is integrated with the
Java platform. Below is an example of an interactive session with Jython shows how a user could create
an instance of the Java random number class (found in java.util.Random) and then interact with that
instance which was taken from the Jython Documentation
C:\jython>jython
Jython 2.0 on java1.2.1
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from java.util import Random
>>> r = Random()
>>> r.nextInt()
-790940041
>>> for i in range(5):
...
print r.nextDouble()
...
0.23347681506123852
0.8526595592189546
0.3647833839988137
0.3384865260567278
0.5514469740469587

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>>>
There are a number of projects in various degrees of completion that are aimed at providing a similar
degree of cross language interoperability within the connes of the Java Virtual Machine. A list of
languages retargetted for the Java Virtual Machine is available on the webpage of Dr. Robert Tolksdorf.
Currently, Sun Microsystems (creators of the Java language and platform) seems to be uninterested in
this level of cross language interoperability and has decided to leave this to independent developers
and researchers.
With seamless cross langauge interoperability, objects can inherit implementation from other types,
instantiate and invoke methods dened on other types, and otherwise interact with objects regardless
of the language the types are originally implemented in. Also tools such as class browsers, debuggers,
and prolers only need to understand one format (be it Java byte codes or .NET instruction language)
but can support a multitude of languages as long as they target the appropriate runtime. Also error
handling across languages via exceptions is possible.
C# and the .NET runtime were created with seamless cross-language interoperability as a design goal.
A language targeting the .NET common language runtime (CLR) is able to interact with other
languages that conform to the common type system and when compiled include certain metadata. The
common type system denes how types are declared, used, and managed in the .NET runtime thus
creating a framework that allows for type safety and ensures that objects written in various languages
can share type information. Metadata is binary information describing the assemblies, types and
attributes dened in the application that are stored either in a CLR portable executable (PE) or in
memory if the assembly has been loaded. Langauges that are currently being developed to target the
.NET runtime include APL, C#, C++, COBOL, Component Pascal, Eiel, Haskel#/Mondrian, Java,
Mercury, Oberon, Perl, Python, Scheme, Smalltalk, Standard ML, and Visual Basic.
Since it is very possible that certain features in one language have no analog in another, the .NET
Framework provides the Common Language Specication (CLS), which describes a fundamental set of
language features and denes rules for how those features are used. The CLS rules are a subset of the
common type system that is aimed at ensuring cross-language interoperability by dening a set of
features that are most common in programming languages. The C# compiler is a CLS compliant
compiler meaning that it can be used to generate code that complies with the CLS. The C# compiler
can check for CLS compliance and issues an error when a program code uses functionality that is not
supported by the CLS. To get the C# compiler to check for the CLS compliance of a piece of code,
mark it with the [CLSCompliantAttribute(true)] attribute.
Another aspect of cross language interoperability supported by C# is interaction with COM based
objects. There are mechanisms that allow developers to use COM objects from C# code and vice versa.
C# objects can utilize COM objects if a wrapper class is rst created that denes the functions
available in the COM object as well as some additional information. The wrapper class can then be
used as if it were a regular C# object while the .NET runtime handles the complexities of marshalling
arguments and the like. Creating the wrapper class can be done automatically using the tlbimp utility. If
the utility is unable to create a type library then one must be written by hand with foreknowledge of
the coclasses and interfaces being dened as well as the type library-to-assembly conversion rules.
For a COM object to utilize a C# object, a typelib must be created that describes the C# object to
COM aware applications. The tlbexp can be used to create a typelib that describes the C# object's
interface in a COM-like manner. Also the regasm utility can be used to register an assembly so it is
available to COM. When COM objects interact with the C# object, the runtime handles whatever
marshalling of data that needs to occur between COM and .NET automatically.
C# programs can also call almost any function in any DLL using a combination of the extern keyword
and the DllImport attribute on the method declaration. A major advantage of this is that the method
being called does not have to be specically written to be called from C#, nor is any "wrapper"
necessary-so calling existing code in DLLs is relatively simple.

Now For Something Completely Dierent

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1. Deterministic Object Cleanup

To provide total control of releasing resources used by classes, C# provides the System.IDisposable
interface which contains the Dispose() method that can be called by users of the class to release
resources on completion of whatever task is at hand. Classes that manage resources such as database
or le handles benet from being disposable. Being diposable provides a deterministic way to release
these resources when the class is no longer in use, which is not the case with nalizers in Java or C#.
It is typical to call the SupressFinalize method of the GC class in the implementation of the Dispose
method since it is likely that nalization by the runtime won't be needed since it will be provided
explicitly via the Dispose method. C# also has some syntactic sugar via the using keyword that makes
releasing the resources used by classes occur in a more deterministic manner via the Dispose method.
If a class is disposable, it is best to make usage of the Dispose() method idempotent (i.e. multiple calls
to Dispose() have no ill eects) which can be done by providing a ag that is checked within the
Dispose() method to see if the class has already been disposed or not. The example below shows a
program where a class keeps a le open up until the Dispose() method is called which indicates that
the le no longer needs to be open.
C# Code
using System;
using System.IO;
public class MyClass : IDisposable {
bool disposed = false;
FileStream f;
StreamWriter sw;
private String name;
private int numShowNameCalls = 0;
MyClass(string name){

f = new FileStream("logfile.txt", FileMode.OpenOrCreate);

sw = new StreamWriter(f);
this.name = name;
Console.WriteLine("Created " + name);
}

~MyClass(){
Dispose(false);
}
public void Dispose(){
if(!disposed){
Dispose(true);
}
}

private void Dispose(bool disposing){

lock(this){ /* prevents multiple threads from disposing simultaneously */
/* disposing variable is used to indicate if this method was called from a
* Dispose() call or during finalization. Since finalization order is not
* deterministic, the StreamWriter may be finalized before this object in
* which case, calling Close() on it would be inappropriate so we try to
* avoid that.
*/
if(disposing){
Console.WriteLine("Finalizing " + name);
sw.Close(); /* close file since object is done with */
GC.SuppressFinalize(this);

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disposed = true;
}
}
}

public string ShowName(){

if(disposed)
throw new ObjectDisposedException("MyClass");
numShowNameCalls++;
sw.Write("ShowName() Call #" + numShowNameCalls.ToString() + "\n");
return "I am " + name;
}
public static void Main(string[] args){

using (MyClass mc = new MyClass("A MyClass Object")){

for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++){
Console.WriteLine(mc.ShowName());
} //for
}/* runtime calls Dispose on MyClass object once "using" code block is exited, even if exception thrown

*/

}//Main
}

The above idiom is practically the same as having C++ style destructors without the worry of having
to deal with memory allocation woes, making it the best of both worlds. The non-deterministic nature
of nalization has long been bemoaned by Java developers, it is a welcome change to see that this will
not be the case when using C#.
NOTE: Calling the Dispose() method does not request that the object is garbage collected , although it
does speed up collection by eliminating the need for nalization. .
2. Delegates
Delegates are a mechanism for providing callback functions. Delegates are akin to function pointers in
C or functors in C++ and are useful in the same kinds of situation. One use of delegates is passing
operations to a generic algorithm based on the types being used in the algorithm. The C function
qsort() is an example of this as are a variety of the C++ functions in <algorithm> like replace_if() and
transform(). Another use of delegates is as a means to register handlers for a particular event (i.e. the
publish-subscribe model). To get the same functionality as C# delegates in Java, once can create
interfaces that specify the signature of the callback method such as is done with the Comparable
interface although this has the drawback of forcing the method to be an instance method when it most
likely should be static.
To use delegates, one rst declares a delegate that has the return type and accepts the same number
of parameters as the methods one will want to invoke as callback functions. Secondly one needs to
dene a method that accepts an instance of the delegate as a parameter. Once this is done, a method
that has the same signature as the delegate (i.e. accepts same parameters and returns the same type)
or has covariant return types and contravariant parameter types (i.e return type is derived from the
return type of the delegate and the parameter types are ancestors of the corresponding parameters)
can be created and used to initialize an instance of the delegate which can then be passed to the
method that accepts that delegate as a parameter. Note that the same delegate can refer to static and

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instance methods, even at the same time, since delegates are multicast. The example below shows the
process of creating and using instance delegates.
C# Code
using System;
/* Mammal class hierarchy used to show return type covariance */
public class Mammal {
public Mammal(){;}
public virtual void Speak(){;}
}
public class Cat : Mammal{
public Cat(){;}
public override void Speak(){
Console.WriteLine("Meow");
}
}
public class Dog : Mammal{
public Dog(){;}
public override void Speak(){
Console.WriteLine("Woof");
}
}

public class Test {

// delegate declaration, similar to a function pointer declaration
public delegate Mammal CallbackFunction(Dog d);
public static Cat BarkAndScareCat(Dog d)
{
d.Speak();
Cat c = new Cat();
c.Speak();
return c;
}
public static Mammal BarkAndReturnHome(Dog d)
{
d.Speak();
return d;
}
public static void Main(string[] args){
Dog dog

= new Dog();

//create delegate using delegate object (old way)

CallbackFunction myCallback = new CallbackFunction(BarkAndReturnHome);
myCallback(dog);
//create delegate using delegate inference (new way)
CallbackFunction myCallback2 = BarkAndScareCat;
myCallback2(dog);
}
}

A delegate can be passed as a parameter to a method in the same way that a function pointer is passed
in languages like C and C++. The following code sample shows how this is done.
C# Code
using System;
//delegate base

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public class HasDelegates

{
// delegate declaration, similar to a function pointer declaration
public delegate bool CallbackFunction(string a, int b);
//method that uses the delegate
public bool execCallback(CallbackFunction doCallback, string x, int y)
{
Console.WriteLine("Executing Callback function...");
return doCallback(x, y);
}
}

public class FunctionDelegates

{
public static readonly HasDelegates.CallbackFunction BarFuncCallback =
new HasDelegates.CallbackFunction(FunctionBar);
public static bool FunctionBar(string a, int b)
{
Console.WriteLine("Bar: {0} {1}", b, a);
return true;
}
}
public class DelegateTest {

public static void Main(string[] args){

HasDelegates MyDel = new HasDelegates();
// with static delegate, no need to know how to create delegate
MyDel.execCallback(FunctionDelegates.BarFuncCallback, "Thirty Three", 33);
}
} // DelegateTest

3. Value Types (Structs)

In both Java and C#, items on the heap have to be garbage collected to reclaim the memory allocated
to them when they are no longer in use while stack based objects are automatically reclaimed by the
system. Memory on the stack is typically faster to allocate than heap based memory.
In Java, all classes are created on the heap while primitives are created on the stack. This can lead to
situations where objects that are used similarly to primitives in a program tend to hang around and
wait for garbage collection thus adding overhead to the program. This can be bothersome, especially if
the objects were used briey and in a single location. To avoid the problem of allocating heap space for
such classes and then having to garbage collect them, C# has a mechanism that allows one to specify
that objects of a certain class should be stack based (In fact, C#'s built-in types such as int are actually
implemented as structs in the runtime library). Unlike classes, value types are always passed by value
and are not garbage collected. And arrays of value types contain the actual value type objects, not
references to dynamically-allocated objects-a savings of both memory and time.
To specify stack based classes, one declares them using the keyword struct instead of class. To create
C# structs (also known as value types) one uses the new keyword to create it as is done with classes. If
the struct is instantiated with the default constructor syntax then a struct with its elds zeroed out is
created. However, it is not possible to dene a default constructor for a struct and override this
behavior.
C# Code

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using System;
struct Point {
public int x;
public int y;
public Point( int x, int y){
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
public override string ToString(){
return String.Format("({0}, {1})", x, y);
}

public static void Main(string[] args){

Point start = new Point(5, 9);
Console.WriteLine("Start: " + start);
/* The line below wouldn't compile if Point was a class */
Point end = new Point();
Console.WriteLine("End: " + end);
}
} // Point

4. Run Time Type Identication (as operator)

The C# as operator is completely analogous to C++'s dynamic_cast construct. The semantics of the as
operator are that it attempts to perform an explict cast to a type and returns null if the operation was
unsuccessful.
C# Code
MyClass mc = o as MyClass;
if(mc != null)
mc.doStuff();

NOTE: The

as

//check if cast successful

operator cannot be used to convert to or from value types.

5. Properties
Properties are a way to abstract away from directly accessing the members of a class, similar to how
accessors (getters) and modiers (setters) are used in the Java world. A property is accessed by users
of a class as if it was a eld or member variable but in actuality is a method call. Accessing a member
via a property allows for side eects when setting values or calculations when generating values while
being transparent to the user of the class. Properties thus provide an explicit way to decouple the
implementation of the member access from how it is actually used.
It is possible to create, read-only, write-only or read-write properties depending on if the getter and
setter are implemented or not. In addition, it is possible to create a property whose getter and setter
have dierent visibility (e.g. a public getter but a private setter). The example below shows dierent
kinds of properties.
C# Code
using System;

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public class User {

public User(string name){

this.name = name;
}
private string name;
//property with public getter and private setter
public string Name{
get{
return name;
}
private set {
name = value;
}
}
private static int minimum_age = 13;
//read-write property for class member, minimum_age
public static int MinimumAge{
get{
return minimum_age;
}
set{
if(value > 0 && value < 100)
minimum_age = value;
else
Console.WriteLine("{0} is an invalid age, so minimum age remains at {1}", value, minimum_age);
}
}
public static void Main(string[] args){
User newuser = new User("Bob Hope");
User.MinimumAge = -5; /* prints error to screen since value invalid */
User.MinimumAge = 18;
//newuser.Name = "Kevin Nash"; Causes compiler error since Name property is read-only
Console.WriteLine("Minimum Age: " + User.MinimumAge);
Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}", newuser.Name);
}
} // User

The use of properties as an abstraction away from whether a member access is a method call or not
may fall apart if the property throws an exception. When this occurs users of the object must then
treat operations that look like member accesses as if they were method calls which can lead to
unintuitive looking code. The example below shows code that sets the values for the elds of a Clock
class that where the setters throw an exception if the value is invalid.
C# Code
try{
myClock.Hours
= 28;
myClock.Minutes = 15;
myClock.Seconds = 39;

/* setter throws exception because 28 is an invalid hour value */

}catch(InvalidTimeValueException itve){

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/* figure out which field was invalid and report error */

}

To avoid situations like the one in the above example it is best that one avoids throwing exceptions in
properties and handle the exceptions that are thrown by methods used in the property. If throwing an
exception is avoidable in some situations then the documentation for the property must adequately
describe the exceptions that can be thrown and the circumstances that lead to them being thrown.
6. Multidimensional Arrays
C# makes the distinction between multidimensional and jagged arrays. A multidimensional array is
akin to a multidimensional array in C or C++ that is a contiguous block containing members of the
same type. A jagged array is akin to an array in Java which is an array of arrays, meaning that it
contains references to other arrays which may contain members of the same type or other arrays
depending on how many levels the array has. The code snippets below highlight the dierences
between multidimensional and jagged arrays. The lack of true multidimensional arrays in Java has
made it problematic to use Java in certain aspects of technical computing which has lead to various
eorts to improve this position including research eorts by IBM which involved writing their own
Array class to get around the shortcomings in Java arrays.
The following code snippet emphasizes the dierences between using multidimensional arrays and
jagged arrays in C#.
C# Code
using System;

public class ArrayTest {

public static void Main(string[] args){

int[,] multi = { {0, 1}, {2, 3}, {4, 5}, {6, 7} };
for(int i=0, size = multi.GetLength(0); i < size; i++){
for(int j=0, size2 = multi.GetLength(1); j < size2; j++){
Console.WriteLine("multi[" + i + "," + j + "] = " + multi[i,j]);
}
}

int[][] jagged = new int[4][];

jagged[0] = new int[2]{0, 1};
jagged[1] = new int[2]{2, 3};
jagged[2] = new int[2]{4, 5};
jagged[3] = new int[2]{6, 7};
for(int i=0, size = jagged.Length; i < size; i++){
for(int j=0, size2 = jagged[1].Length; j < size2; j++){
Console.WriteLine("jagged[" + i + "][" + j + "] = " + jagged[i][j]);
}
}
}
} // ArrayTest

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7. Indexers
An indexer is a special syntax for overloading the [] operator for a class. An indexer is useful when a
class is a container for another kind of object. Indexers are exible in that they support any type, such
as integers or strings, as indexes. It is also possible to create indexers that allow multidimensional
array syntax where one can mix and match dierent types as indexes. Finally, indexers can be
overloaded.
C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
public class IndexerTest: IEnumerable, IEnumerator {
private Hashtable list;
public IndexerTest (){
index = -1;
list = new Hashtable();
}
//indexer that indexes by number
public object this[int column]{

get{
return list[column];
}

set{
list[column] = value;
}
}

/* indexer that indexes by name */

public object this[string name]{

get{
return this[ConvertToInt(name)];
}
set{
this[ConvertToInt(name)] = value;
}
}

/* Convert strings to integer equivalents */

private int ConvertToInt(string value){
string loVal = value.ToLower();
switch(loVal){
case
case
case
case
case
case

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"zero": return 0;
"one": return 1;
"two": return 2;
"three": return 3;
"four": return 4;
"five": return 5;

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default:
return 0;
}
return 0;
}

/**
* Needed to implement IEnumerable interface.
*/
public IEnumerator GetEnumerator(){ return (IEnumerator) this; }

/**
* Needed for IEnumerator.
*/
private int index;
/**
* Needed for IEnumerator.
*/
public bool MoveNext(){
index++;
if(index >= list.Count)
return false;
else
return true;
}
/**
* Needed for IEnumerator.
*/
public void Reset(){
index = -1;
}

/**
* Needed for IEnumerator.
*/
public object Current{
get{
return list[index];
}
}

public static void Main(string[] args){

IndexerTest it = new IndexerTest();
it[0] = "A";
it[1] = "B";
it[2] = "C";
it[3] = "D";
it[4] = "E";

Console.WriteLine("Integer Indexing: it[0] = " + it[0]);

Console.WriteLine("String Indexing: it[\"Three\"] = " + it["Three"]);
Console.WriteLine("Printing entire contents of object via enumerating through indexer :");
foreach( string str in it){
Console.WriteLine(str);
}
}

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} // IndexerTest

8. Preprocessor Directives
C# includes a preprocessor that has a limited subset of the functionality of the C/C++ preprocessor.
The C# preprocessor lacks the ability to #include les or perform textual substitutions using #define. The
primary functionality that remains is the ability to #define and #undef identiers and also the ability to
select which sections of code to compile based on the validity of certain expressions via #if, #elif, and
#else. The #error and #warning directives cause the errors or warnings messages following these
directives to be printed on compilation. The #pragma directive is used to supress compiler warning
messages. Finally, there is the #line directive that can be used to specify the source le and line
number reported when the compiler detects errors.
C# Code
#define DEBUG /* #define must be first token in file */
using System;
#pragma warning disable 169 /* Disable 'field never used' warning */
class PreprocessorTest{
int unused_field;
public static void Main(string[] args){
#if DEBUG
Console.WriteLine("DEBUG Mode := On");
#else
Console.WriteLine("DEBUG Mode := Off");
#endif
}
}

9. Aliases
The using keyword can be used to alias the fully qualied name for a type similar to the way typedef is
used in C and C++. This is useful in creating readable code where the fully qualied name of a class is
needed to resolve namespace conicts.
C# Code
using Terminal = System.Console;
class Test{
public static void Main(string[] args){
Terminal.WriteLine("Terminal.WriteLine is equivalent to System.Console.Writeline");
}
}

10. Runtime Code Generation

The Reflection.Emit namespace contains classes that can be used to generate .NET instruction language
(IL) and use it to build classes in memory at runtime or even write portable executable (PE) les to
disk. This is analagous to a Java library that would allow one to create Java classes at runtime by
generating Java byte codes which could then be written to disks or loaded and used within the

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program.
It is expected that the primary users of the Reflection.Emit namespace will be authors of compilers and
script engines. For instance, the regular expression classes in System.Text.RegularExpressions use the
Reflection.Emit library to generate a custom matching engine for each regular expression compiled.
11. Pointers and Unsafe Code
Although core C# is like Java in that there is no access to a pointer type that is analogous to pointer
types in C and C++, it is possible to have pointer types if the C# code is executing in an unsafe context.
When C# code is executing in an unsafe context, a lot of runtime checking is disabled which means
that the program must have full trust on the machine it is running on.
Certain situations call for the use of unsafe code such as when interfacing with the underlying
operating system, during interactions with COM objects that take structures that contain pointers,
when accessing a memory-mapped device or in situations where performance is critical. The syntax
and semantics for writing unsafe code is similar to the syntax and semantics for using pointers in C
and C++. To write unsafe code, the unsafe keyword must be used to specify the code block as unsafe
and the program must be compiled with the /unsafe compiler switch.
Since garbage collection may relocate managed (i.e. safe) variables during the execution of a program,
the fixed keyword is provided so that the address of a managed variable is pinned during the execution
of the parts of the program within the fixed block. Without the fixed keyword there would be little
purpose in being able to assign a pointer to the address of a managed variable since the runtime may
move the variable from that address as part of the mark & compact garbage collection process.
C# Code
using System;
class UnsafeTest{

public static unsafe void Swap(int* a, int*b){

int temp = *a;
*a = *b;
*b = temp;
}

public static unsafe void Sort(int* array, int size){

for(int i= 0; i < size - 1; i++)
for(int j = i + 1; j < size; j++)
if(array[i] > array[j])
Swap(&array[i], &array[j]);
}
public static unsafe void Main(string[] args){
int[] array = {9, 1, 3, 6, 11, 99, 37, 17, 0, 12};
Console.WriteLine("Unsorted Array:");
foreach(int x in array)
Console.Write(x + " ");
fixed( int* iptr = array ){

// must use fixed to get address of array

Sort(iptr, array.Length);
}//fixed
Console.WriteLine("\nSorted Array:");
foreach(int x in array)
Console.Write(x + " ");

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}
}

12. Pass by Reference

In Java the arguments to a method are passed by value meaning that a method operates on copies of
the items passed to it instead of on the actual items. In C#, as in C++ and in a sense C, it is possible to
specify that the arguments to a method actually be references to the items being passed to the method
instead of copies. This feature is particularly useful when one wants to create a method that returns
more than one object. In Java trying to return multiple values from a method is not supported and
leads to interesting anomalies like the fact that a method that swaps two numbers which has been the
hallmark of freshman computer science classes for years is impossible to do in Java without resorting
to coding tricks.
The C# keywords used to specify that a parameter is being passed by reference are ref and out. The
dierence between the keywords is that parameters passed using ref must be initialized to some value
while those passed using out do not have to be.
A more detailed explanation of Java's lack of Pass By Reference semantics is available in the Javaworld
article, Does Java pass by reference or pass by value? Why can't you swap in Java? by Tony Sintes
Java Code
class PassByRefTest{
public static void changeMe(String s){
s = "Changed";
}
public static void swap(int x, int y){
int z = x;
x = y;
y = z;
}
public static void main(String[] args){
int a = 5, b = 10;
String s = "Unchanged";
swap(a, b);
changeMe(s);
System.out.println("a := " + a + ", b := " + b + ", s = " + s);
}
}
OUTPUT
a := 5, b := 10, s = Unchanged
C# Code
using System;
class PassByRefTest{
public static void ChangeMe(out string s){
s = "Changed";
}

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public static void Swap(ref int x, ref int y){

int z = x;
x = y;
y = z;
}
public static void Main(string[] args){
int a = 5, b = 10;
string s;
Swap(ref a, ref b);
ChangeMe(out s);
Console.WriteLine("a := " + a + ", b := " + b + ", s = " + s);
}
}
OUTPUT
a := 10, b := 5, s = Changed

13. Verbatim Strings

C# provides the ability to avoid the usage of escape sequences within string constants and instead
declare strings literally. Thus backslashes, tabs, quotes and newlines can be part of a string without
using escape sequences. The only caveat is that double quotes that appear within verbatim strings
should be doubled. Verbatim strings are specied by prepending the @ symbol to string declarations.
C# Code
using System;
class VerbatimTest{
public static void Main(){
//verbatim string
string filename = @"C:\My Documents\My Files\File.html";
Console.WriteLine("Filename 1: " + filename);
//regular string
string filename2 =

"C:\\My Documents\\My Files\\File.html";

Console.WriteLine("Filename 2: " + filename2);

string snl_celebrity_jeopardy_skit = @"
Darrell Hammond (Sean Connery) : I'll take ""Swords"" for $400
Will Farrell
(Alex Trebek) : That's S-Words, Mr Connery.
";
Console.WriteLine(snl_celebrity_jeopardy_skit);
}
}

14. Overow Detection

C# provides the option to explicitly detect or ignore overow conditions in expressions and type
conversions. Overow conditions detected in code throw a System.OverFlowException. Since overow
detection causes a performance hit it can be explicitly enabled by using the /checked+ compiler option.
One can also mandate code that must always be checked for overow conditions by placing it in a
checked block or that must always be ignored with regards to overow detection by placing it in an
unchecked block.

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C# Code
using System;
class CheckedTest{

public static void Main(){

int num = 5000;
/* OVERFLOW I */
byte a = (byte) num; /* overflow detected only if /checked compiler option on */
/* OVERFLOW II */
checked{
byte b = (byte) num; /* overflow ALWAYS detected */
}
/* OVERFLOW III */
unchecked{
byte c = (byte) num; /* overflow NEVER detected */
}
}//Main
}

15. Explicit Interface Implementation

Sometimes when a class implements an interface it is possible for there to be namespace collisions
with regards to method names. For instance, a FileRepresentation class which has a graphical user
interface may implement an IWindow and an IFileHandler interface. Both of these classes may have a
Close method where in the case of IWindow it means to close the GUI window while in the case of
IFileHandler it means to close the le. In Java, there is no solution to this problem besides writing one
Close method that does the same thing when invoked via an IWindow handle or an IFileHandler
handle. C# gets around this problem by allowing one to bind method implementations to specic
intefaces. Thus in the aformentioned example, the FileRepresentation class would have dierent Close
methods that would be invoked depending on whether the class was being treated as an IWindow or an
IFileHandler.
NOTE: Explicit interface methods are private and can only be accessed if the object is cast to the
required type before invoking the method.
C# Code
using System;
interface IVehicle{
//identify vehicle by model, make, year
void IdentifySelf();
}
interface IRobot{
//identify robot by name
void IdentifySelf();
}
class TransformingRobot : IRobot, IVehicle{
string
string
short
string

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model;
make;
year;
name;

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TransformingRobot(String name, String model, String make, short year){

this.name
this.model
this.make
this.year

=
=
=
=

name;
model;
make;
year;

void IRobot.IdentifySelf(){
Console.WriteLine("My name is " + this.name);
}
void IVehicle.IdentifySelf(){
Console.WriteLine("Model:" + this.model + " Make:" + this.make + " Year:" + this.year);
}

public static void Main(){

TransformingRobot tr = new TransformingRobot("SedanBot", "Toyota", "Corolla", 2001);
// tr.IdentifySelf(); ERROR
IVehicle v = (IVehicle) tr;
IRobot r

= (IRobot) tr;

v.IdentifySelf();
r.IdentifySelf();
}
}
OUTPUT
Model:Toyota Make:Corolla Year:2001
My name is SedanBot

16. Friend Assemblies

The friend assembly feature allows an internal type or internal member of an assembly to be accessed
from another assembly. To give one assembly access to another assembly's internal types and
members, the [InternalsVisibleToAttribute] attribute is used.
The following code sample shows 2 source les which are compiled into friend_assembly_test.dll and
friend_assembly_test_2.exe which utilize the friend's assembly feature
C# Code
// friend_assembly_test.cs
// compile with: /target:library
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System;
[assembly:InternalsVisibleTo("friend_assembly_test_2")]
// internal by default
class Friend
{
public void Hello()
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
}
}
// public type with internal member

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public class Friend2

{
internal string secret = "I like jelly doughnuts";
}
C# Code 2
// friend_assembliy_test_2.cs
// compile with: /reference:friend_assembly_test.dll /out:friend_assembly_test_2.exe
using System;
public class FriendFinder
{
static void Main()
{
// access an internal type
Friend f = new Friend();
f.Hello();
Friend2 f2 = new Friend2();
// access an internal member of a public type
Console.WriteLine(f2.secret);
}
}

17. The Namespace Qualier

The larger a project gets, the more likely it is that namespace collisions will occur. C# has the ::
operator which is used for specifying at what scope a namespace should be resolved. The left operand
indicates the scope at which to resolve the name while the right operand is the name to resolve. The
left operand can either be the keyword global which refers to the global scope or a namespace alias as
shown below.
C# Code
using System;
using sys = System;
namespace TestLib{
class Test{
public class System {}
static DateTime Console = DateTime.Now;
public static void Main(){
//Console.WriteLine("Hello world"); doesn't work due to static member variable named 'Console'
//System.Console.WriteLine("Hello world"); doesn't work due to nested class named 'System'
global::System.Console.WriteLine("The time is " + Console);
sys::Console.WriteLine("Hello again");
}
}
}

NOTE: The extern alias statement can be used to attach an alias to an assembly which can then be used
as the left operand of the :: operator. When this is done the scope used for name resolution is the top
level namespace(s) within the assembly.
18. Iterators (Continuations)
For a data structure to support being a target of the foreach loop it must implement or return an
instance of System.Collections.IEnumerable. However writing an Enumerator can be somewhat cumbersome
which is where the yield keyword comes in. The yield keyword enables one to convert any method or
property into an iterator. In an iterator, one simply traverses the data structure and returns its
contents one by one using the yield return statement and indicates the end of the sequence of values
with the yield break statement. The method or property must return one of IEnumerable,

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IEnumerable<T>, IEnumerator or IEnumerator<T>.

C# Code
using System;
using System.Collections;
class Test{
public static string[] fruit = {"banana", "apple", "orange", "pear", "grape"};
public static string[] vegetables = {"lettuce", "cucumber", "peas", "carrots"};
public static IEnumerable FruitAndVeg{
get{
foreach(string f in fruit){
yield return f;
}
foreach(string v in vegetables){
yield return v;
}
yield break; //optional
}
}
public static void Main(){
foreach (string produce in Test.FruitAndVeg){
Console.WriteLine(produce);
}
}
}

19. Partial Types

The partial types feature enables one to dene a single class, struct or interface across multiple source
les. This is particularly useful when dealing with automatically generated code. Prior to the existence
of this feature,it was problematic to make changes to a class that contained automatically generated
code because any change that required regeneration of the code could alter or remove parts of the
code written by hand. With this feature the automatically generated parts of a class can live in one
source le while the user generated parts of the class can live in another. This makes it less likely that
changes to one will aect the other negatively and vice versa.
A partial class is specied by prexing the keyword partial to the class declaration. The following code
sample shows a partial class that is dened across two source les. Note how methods and properties
from one source le can reference members dened in another.
C# Code
using System;
partial class Test{
public static string[] fruit = {"banana", "apple", "orange", "pear", "grape"};
public static string[] vegetables = {"lettuce", "cucumber", "peas", "carrots"};
public static void Main(){
foreach (string produce in Test.FruitAndVeg){
Console.WriteLine(produce);
}
}
}
C# Code 2
using System;
using System.Collections;

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partial class Test{

public static IEnumerable FruitAndVeg{
get{
foreach(string f in fruit){
yield return f;
}
foreach(string v in vegetables){
yield return v;
}
}
}

It should be noted that all of the class attributes are merged across all denitions of a class. This
means that contradictory attributes (e.g. class declared as private in one le and public in another) are
disallowed.
20. Static Classes
A static class is a class that has no instance members, no instance constructors and cannot be used as
a base class. A static class should be used to dene types for which instances don't make sense such as
the System.Environment and System.Math classes.
A static class is specied by prexing the class declaration with the keyword

static.

C# Code
using System;
public static class StaticClass{
public static void HelloWorld(){
Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
}
}
public class Test{
public static void Main(string[] args){
StaticClass.HelloWorld();
}
}

21. Nullable Types

A nullable types is an instance of the System.Nullable type. A nullable type can represent the normal
range of values for an underlying value type as well as the null value. For example, the type
Nullable<bool> can represent the values true, false and null. A nullable type can be declared by appending
the operator '?' to the name of a value type when declaring the variable. This means that bool? is
equivalent to Nullable<bool>. Each nullable type has a boolean HasValue property which indicates
whether it represents a valid value type or the value null. The actual value of the nullable type is stored
in its Value property. There is also the GetValueOrDefault() method which either returns the value of
the nullable type or the default value of the underlying value type if it is null.
Nullable types are particularly useful when mapping C# objects to relational database schemas since
null is a valid value for all data types in SQL databases.
C# Code
using System;
public class Test{
public static void Main(string[] args){

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int? x = 5;
if(x.HasValue){
Console.WriteLine("The value of x is " + x.Value);
}
x = null;
//prints 0
Console.WriteLine(x.GetValueOrDefault());
}
}

The ?? operator is called the null coalescing operator and is used for testing the value of a nullable
type and returning its value or an alternate if its value is null. Thus x ?? y is equivalent to x == (null
: x).

? y

C# Code
using System;
public class Test{
public static void Main(string[] args){
int? x = null;
int y = x ?? 5;
//prints 5
Console.WriteLine(y);
}
}

22. Anonymous Methods

Anonymous methods are a companion feature to delegates. An anonymous method is a code block that
can be used where a delegate method is expected. This simplies code that uses delegates by not
requiring a separate method to implement the delegate's functionality. The following code sample
compares the anonymous method approach to using a named delegate
C# Code
using System;
public class Test {
// delegate declaration, similar to a function pointer declaration
public delegate void CallbackFunction(string a, int b);
public static void PrintString(string a, int b){
for(int i = 0; i < b ; i++)
Console.WriteLine("{0}.) {1}", i + 1, a);
}
public static void Main(string[] args){
/* anonymous code block */
CallbackFunction cf = delegate (string a, int b){
for(int i = 0; i < b ; i++)
Console.WriteLine("{0}.) {1}", i + 1, a);
};
cf("Thirty Three", 10);

/* using a named delegate function */

CallbackFunction cf2 = new CallbackFunction(Test.PrintString);
cf2("Twenty Two", 5);
}
}

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There are a number of restrictions to anonymous methods that must be kept in mind. For one, jump
statements like break, goto and continue cannot be used o jump into an anonymous method from outside
the code block or vice versa. Also anonymous methods cannot refer to ref or out parameters that are
dened outside the scope of the method.

Wish You Were Here

1. Checked Exceptions
Before the advent of exceptions, most error handling was done via return codes. There are many
advantages of exceptions over return codes that are typically touted including the fact that exceptions
provide a consistent means to handle errors and other exceptional conditions.
enable an error to propagate up the call stack if not handled in the current context.
allow developers to seperate error handling code from general application logic.
Java creates an additional wrinkle by possessing both checked and unchecked exceptions. Checked
exceptions are exceptions that the calling method must handle either by catching the exception or
declaring that the exception should be handled by its calling method via the throws clause. On the other
hand, unchecked exceptions (also called runtime exceptions) do not have to be caught or declared in
the throws clause. In a sense unchecked exceptions are similar to return codes in that they can be
ignored without warnings or errors being issued by the compiler. Although if an exception is ignored at
runtime, your program will terminate.
Checked exceptions are typically used to indicate to a calling method that the callee failed in its task
as well as pass information as to how and why it failed. One must either catch a checked exception or
declare it in the throws clause of the method or the Java compiler will issue an error. The reasoning
behind the fact that the exception must be declared in the throws clause is that handling whatever
errors that can occur when the method is used is just as important as knowing what parameters it
accepts and the kind of type it returns.
Unchecked exceptions are typically exceptions that can occur in most parts of the program and thus
the overhead of explicitly checking for them outweighs their usefulness due to the massive code bloat
that would ensue. Examples of situations that throw unchecked exceptions are accessing a null object
reference, trying to access an out of bounds index of an array or a division by zero. In all of the
aforementioned cases it would be cumbersome to put try...catch blocks around every the code (for
instance a try...catch block around every object access or every array access) and they are better o as
unchecked exceptions.

In C#, all exceptions are unchecked and there is no analog to the throws clause. One major side eect
of this is that unless the creator of the API explicitly documents the exceptions thrown then it is not
possible for the users of the API to know what exceptions to catch in their code leading to unrobust
applications that can fail unexpectedly. Thus users of C# are reliant on the documentation skill of
programmers as their primary error handling mechanism which is a less than optimal situation.
For instance in the following code snippet, the only way to know what exceptions can be thrown by the
method below is to either have the source code for all the methods called within it or if the developer
of the method documents all the exceptions thrown by all the methods called within it (meaning that
the developers of those methods must have done the same ad innitum).
C# Code

public string GetMessageFromServer(string server)

{

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//Set up variables and String to write to the server

Encoding ASCII = Encoding.ASCII;
string Get = "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: " + server +
"\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n";
Byte[] ByteGet = ASCII.GetBytes(Get);
Byte[] RecvBytes = new Byte[256];
String strRetPage = null;
// IPAddress and IPEndPoint represent the endpoint that will
//
receive the request
// Get first IPAddress in list return by DNS
IPAddress hostadd = Dns.Resolve(server).AddressList[0];
IPEndPoint EPhost = new IPEndPoint(hostadd, 80);
//Create the Socket for sending data over TCP
Socket s = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Stream,
ProtocolType.Tcp );
// Connect to host using IPEndPoint
s.Connect(EPhost);
if (!s.Connected)
{
strRetPage = "Unable to connect to host";
return strRetPage;
}
// Sent the GET text to the host
s.Send(ByteGet, ByteGet.Length, 0);
// Receive the page, loop until all bytes are received
Int32 bytes = s.Receive(RecvBytes, RecvBytes.Length, 0);
strRetPage = "Default HTML page on " + server + ":\r\n";
strRetPage = strRetPage + ASCII.GetString(RecvBytes, 0, bytes);
while (bytes > 0)
{
bytes = s.Receive(RecvBytes, RecvBytes.Length, 0);
strRetPage = strRetPage + ASCII.GetString(RecvBytes, 0, bytes);
}
return strRetPage;
}

The above code snippet is from the .NET Framework Beta 2 documentation for the Socket class. Note
how there no exceptions caught in the code. If this was a method in a real application as opposed to a
sample, it would be impossible for the users of this method to know what exceptions to catch without
access to the source code or without the author of the method painstakingly checking what exceptions
are thrown by every single method called and then documenting them. Below is the list of exceptions
that could be thrown within the method according to their entries in the Microsoft .NET framework
Beta 2 documentation.
Method

Exception(s) thrown

Encoding.GetBytes

ArgumentNullException

Dns.Resolve

ArgumentNullException, SocketException

IPEndPoint constructor ArgumentException

Socket constructor

SocketException

Socket.Connect

ArgumentNullException, SocketException

Socket.Receive

ArgumentNullException, SocketException

ASCII.GetString

[undocumented as of Beta 2]

If the author of the method does not have time to document the exceptions that may be thrown from
this method or happens to leave out an important one, such as the SocketException in this case, then

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the users of the method could have their applications fail unexpectedly without an elegant means of
recovery in place. In the above case, the main exception of interest to users would probably be the
SocketException since the others are all related to the internal workings of the method and don't
really have anything to do with the caller and in fact would probably be unchecked exceptions if they
existed in Java. In practice the GetMessageFromServer method would check the validity of its string
parameter and throw ArgumentNException or one of its subclasses depending the results of the check.
The rationale for excluding checked exceptions from C# has never been fully explained by Microsoft
but this message from Eric Gunnerson of the C# team sheds some light on the reasoning behind this
decision. The primary reason for this choice according to Gunnerson is that examination of small
programs led to the conclusion that using checked exceptions could both enhance developer
productivity and enhance code quality. On the other hand experience with large software projects
suggested that using checked exceptions decreased productivity with little or no increase in code
quality.
[updated 12/5/2001] It should be noted that there is agreement amongst some Java developers with
Eric Gunnerson's assertion that checked exceptions have certain disadvantages. Alan Griiths wrote
an excellent article entitled Exceptional Java where he notes that checked exceptions lead to breaking
encapsulation, loss of information and information overload. Bruce Eckel, author of Thinking In Java
and Thinking In C++, also questions the wisdom of checked exceptions in his article entitled Does Java
need Checked Exceptions?.
The lack of checked exceptions in C# will be very unsettling for Java developers and may lead to
program designs which are awed. One only has to remember the anecdote about how originally a
considerable amount of the exceptions in the Java API were unchecked but upon changing them to
checked exceptions a number of bugs and design aws were found in the API. Hopefully this will be
remedied in later versions of C# or a third party could develop a static source code analysis tool such
as lint. Meanwhile C# developers must take care to document all exceptions thrown from their
methods that callers should be aware of as a matter of consideration. This is not to say that
documentation should not typically exist but since it is the only means to ensure exception safe C#
code then its importance is now a much greater.
2. Cross Platform Portability (Write Once, Run Anywhere)
A major selling point of Java technologies is that applications written in Java are portable across a
number of operating systems and platforms. Sun oicially supports Linux, Windows and Solaris but
other vendors have implemented Java on a large range of platforms including OS/2, AIX and MacOS.
Binary compatibility across platforms using similar Java versions is the norm except for situations
involving bugs in various VM implementations.
At the time of this writing C# is only available on Windows. Eorts are currently in place to port it to
other platforms, including Linux and FreeBSD. Linux porting is being done as part of the Mono project
developed by Ximian while the FreeBSD implementation is a Microsoft project codenamed rotor.
3. Extensions
The Java extension mechanism enables developers to extend the abilities of the core Java platform.
Developers can create classes and packages which are treated by the Java runtime as if they are core
Java classes and packages like java.lang, java.util, java.net,etc. This means that extensions do not have
to be placed on the class path since they are treated as if they are part of the core libraries such as
those in the Java runtime library, rt.jar. Extensions are contained within JAR les and once installed
are available to all applications running on the target platform.
A C# parallel would be the ability to create assemblies that are treated as if they are part of the
namespace contained in the System.dll assembly.

System

4. strictfp
In Java,

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strict oating point arithmetic that conforms to behavior specied in the IEEE standard 754 for binary
oating-point arithmetic (IEEE 754). Within an FP-strict expression, all intermediate values must be
members of the oat or double value set, depending on whether the expression is evaluating oats or
doubles. Within expressions that are not FP-strict, it is allowable for the JVM implementation to use an
extended exponent range to represent intermediate results. The example below claries the dierence
between FP-strict and non-FP-strict expressions.
Java Code
public class FPTest {
static strictfp double halfOfSquareFP(double n){
return n * 4.0
}

* 0.5;

static double halfOfSquareNFP(double n){

return n * 4.0 * 0.5;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
double d = 6.6e+307;
System.out.println(halfOfSquareFP(d));
System.out.println(halfOfSquareNFP(d));
}
}//FPTest

In the above example the value printed by calling halfOfSquareFP() will be "Innity" regardless of
what JVM the application is run on. This is because Java enforces left-to-right evaluation of arguments
and 6.6e+307 multiplied by 4.0 exceeds the maximum value for a double thus leading to all subsequent
operations yielding Innity. On the other hand the value printed on calling halfOfSquareNFP() may not
be the same on dierent JVMs depending on whether the target platform and JVM implementation
support storing intermediate values in an extended format that has a larger range than that of doubles.
Thus on some platforms the value 1.32E308 is printed as the value returned by halfOfSquareNFP() while
on others "Innity" is printed.
Section 4.1.5 of the C# specication covers oating point numbers and states that due to the excessive
performance costs of enforcing that certain architectures perform operations with less precision than
is possible, there is no way to enforce FP-strictness in C#.
5. Dynamic Class Loading
The ability to dynamically load classes at runtime in Java is a very powerful feature especially when
combined with a remote procedure call mechanism. Dynamic class loading enables Java applications to
download the class les (i.e. byte codes) of classes that do not exist on the target machine. An object
type that only exists on one machine can be transferred to other machines in a seamless and
transparent manner. Thus new types can be introduced on a remote machine which allows the
behavior of remote applications to be signicantly extended at runtime. The following example shows
an example of a remote application that accepts types that implement a certain interface, IStockTicker.
Java Code
public class MyRMIServer extends UnicastRemoteObject
implements SomeInterface {
public MyRMIServer() throws RemoteException{ super();}

public String obtainName(IStockTicker ticker){

String stock_ticker = ticker.getTicker();

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if(stock_ticker.equalsIgnoreCase("MSFT"))
return "Microsoft Corporation";
else if(stock_ticker.equalsIgnoreCase("SUNW"))
return "Sun Microsystems";
else
return "Unknown Stock Ticker";
}/* obtainName(IStockTicker) */
}

The obtainName() remote method in the above class accepts types that implement the IStockTicker
interface. It is possible for this method to be invoked from a remote client which then passes a type
that implements IStockTicker, for example NASDAQStock, that does not exist on the server where the
MyRMIServer class lives. In this case the entire code needed for NASDAQStock class is transmitted
from the client to the remote server automatically.
C# and the .NET Remoting mechanism also enable remotely downloading classes from one machine to
the other but the client has to publish the assembly and the server can then load it via a URL.
For information on Java Remote Method Invokation (RMI) read the Java tutorial on RMI. Information
on .NET Remoting with C# is explained in this introduction to .NET remoting and this technical
overview on MSDN.
6. Interfaces That Contain Fields
In Java it is possible for constants to be declared in interfaces which are then available to
implementing classes while in C# this is not allowed. This may not be a big issue in C# since the
primary usage of constants declared in interfaces is as a poor emulation of enumerations.
7. Anonymous Inner Classes
An anonymous inner class is a class declaration that occurs at the same point where an instance of
that class is created. Anonymous inner classes are typically used where only one instance of a type will
exist in the application. The most popular usage of anonymous inner classes is for specifying callbacks
especially in the Java GUI libraries but there are other situations where anonymous inner classes are
benecial as well. Below is an example of using anonymous inner classes to implement the State
Design Pattern.
Java Code
/* An instance of this class represents the current state of a ClientView GUI. */
public abstract class ClientState{
// This instance of the class is used to signify that the user is not logged in.
// The only thing a user can do in this state is login and exit.
public static ClientState NOT_LOGGED_IN = new ClientState() {
public void setMenuState(ClientView cv) {
cv.setMenuEnabledState(false); /* disable all menus */
cv.menuLogin.setEnabled(true);
cv.menuExit.setEnabled(true);
//can't type
cv.textArea.setEnabled(false);
}
public String toString(){
return "ClientState: NOT_LOGGED_IN";
}
};

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// This instance of the class is used to signify that the user is logged in
// but has not yet created a document to work with. The user cannot type or save
// anything in this mode.
public static ClientState NO_OPEN_DOCUMENT = new ClientState() {
public void setMenuState(ClientView cv) {
cv.setMenuEnabledState(false); /* disable all menus */
cv.menuLogin.setEnabled(true);
cv.menuExit.setEnabled(true);
cv.menuOpenFile.setEnabled(true);
cv.menuNewFile.setEnabled(true);
//can't type
cv.textArea.setEnabled(false);
}
public String toString(){
return "ClientState: NO_OPEN_DOCUMENT";
}
};

// This instance of the class is used to signify that the user is editting a file.
// In this mode the user can use any functionality he/she sees fit.
public static ClientState EDITTING_DOCUMENT = new ClientState() {
public void setMenuState(ClientView cv) {
cv.setMenuEnabledState(true);
cv.textArea.setEnabled(true);
}

/* enable all menus

public String toString(){

return "ClientState:EDITTING_DOCUMENT";
}
};

// Default constructor private to stop people from directly creating instances

// of the class.
private ClientState() {;}

// This disables various elements of the ClientView's menu dependent on which

// ClientState object this is.
public abstract void setMenuState(ClientView cv);
} // ClientState

Below is an example of the code that would utilize the above ClientState class.
bool loginUser(String username, String passwd) {
//check if already logged in
if(myGUI.state == ClientState.NOT_LOGGED_IN)
return true;
//enable parts of the GUI if the user authenticates
if(userAuthenticated(username, passwd)){
myGUI.state = ClientState.NO_OPEN_DOCUMENT;
myGUI.state.setMenuState(myView);
return true;
}
return false;

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}/* loginUser(String, String) */

8. Static Imports
The static import feature makes it possible to access static members of a class without having specify
the class name. This feature is intended to reduce the verbosity of code that frequently access the
static members of a particular class (e.g. constants dened in a particular helper class).
A static import similar to a regular import statement except that the keyword
of importing a package, a specic class is imported.

static

is used and instead

Java Code
import static java.awt.Color.*;
public class Test{
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
//constants not qualified thanks to static import
System.out.println(RED + " plus " + YELLOW + " is " + ORANGE);
}
}

Conclusion (2001)
Most developers, especially those with a background in C or C++, would probably agree that features like
operator overloading, pointers, preprocessor directives, delegates and deterministic object cleanup make
C# more expressive than Java in a number of cases. Similarly, Java developers who learn C# will be
pleasantly surprised at features that are missing in Java that will seem glaring in their absence once one
uses them in C#, such as boxing, enumerations and pass by reference. On the other hand the lack of
checked exceptions, inner classes, cross platform portability or the fact that a class is not the smallest unit
of distribution of code makes the choice of C# over Java not a clearcut case of choosing more language
features without having to make any compromises.
It is my opinion that both languages are similar enough that they could be made to mirror each other
without signicant eort if so required by either user base. In this case, C# would have it easier than Java
in that C# has less to borrow from Java than Java would have to borrow from C#. However, the true worth
of a programming language that is intended for use outside of academia is how quickly the language
evolves to adapt to the changing technological landscape and what kind of community surrounds the
language. Some programming languages are akin to the French language under the Les Immortels of the
Acadmie Franaise in France. Les immortels are charged with dictating what constitutes the oicial
French language but they have been slow to adapt to the information age thus their edicts on what
constitutes the proper French versions of new words, especially those related to technology, are usually
ignored especially since they either conict with what the general French public would rather call them and
show up long after the unsanctioned words have already entered the lexicon. C++ is an example of a
language that has undergone a process of balkanization closely resembling the French language under the
Les Immortels of the Acadmie Franaise while Java under Sun Microsystems can be considered to be a
language that has evolved with the times similar to how the English language has done.
Thus the question really becomes, which of these languages looks like it will evolve with the times and be
easiest to adapt to new situations as they arise? So far, Sun has done a great job with Java although a lack
of versioning support and the non-existence of a framework that enables extensibility of the language built
into the platform makes drastic evolution diicult. C# with its support for versioning via the .NET
framework and the existence of attributes which can be used to extend the features of the language looks
like it would in the long run be the more adaptable language. Only time will tell however if this prediction is

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accurate.

Conclusion (2007)
As predicted in the original conclusion to this paper, a number of features have become common across
both C# and Java since 2001. These features include generics, foreach loops, enumerations, boxing,
variable length parameter lists and metadata annotations. However after years of convergence it seems
that C# and Java are about to go in radically dierent directions. The current plans for C# 3.0 are
highlighted in the Language Integrated Query (LINQ) Project which encompasses integrating a number of
data oriented features including query, set operations, transformations and type inferencing directly into
the C# language. In combination with some of C#'s existing features like anonymous methods and nullable
types, the dierences between C# and Java will become more stark over the next few years in contrast to
the feature convergence that has been happening over the past few years.

Resources
1. Eckel, Bruce. Thinking In Java. Prentice Hall, 2000.
2. Gunnerson, Eric. A Programmer's Introduction To C#. Apress, 2001.
3. Sun Microsystems. The Java Tutorial.<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/>
4. Microsoft Corporation. .NET Framework Programming. < http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library
/ms229284(VS.80).aspx>
5. Microsoft Corporation. C# Language Reference. < http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library
/618ayhy6(VS.80).aspx>

Acknowledgements
The following people helped in reviewing and proofreading this article: Paul Johns, David Dagon, Dr. Yannis
Smaragdakis , Dmitri Alperovitch, Dennis Lu and Sanjay Bhatia.
2001, 2007 Dare Obasanjo

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