when to choose microsoft .NET framework for development

[haroonkhalid]

hi all,
i am taking up a study for Microsoft .NET framework. I want to get some help that what are those factors which help architecture team to decide that WHEN TO CHOOSE MICROSOFT .NET FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT AND WHEN NOT TO CHOOSE.

if there is any such comparative analysis available or anyone has some expereince from that point of view .... plz share it with me and all ....

c ya
haroon

 

[chiph]

I don't think you can answer a question like this in a vacuum -- you need to be comparing .NET framework to something else. VB6/C++/Java/MFC/something else, in order to be making a good comparison between what the technologies offer you (or not).

Chip H.
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[AtillaTheMagyar]

I agree. You must compare .Net to alternatives. I really see one alternative to .Net: Java. In the future most programming efforts will be in one of these two areas.

There is an excellent newsgroup/mailing list devoted to the .Net vs. Java discussion:

http://www.asplists.com/asplists/debatejavavsnet.asp

Lots of good posts there.

 

[haroonkhalid]

Yes you both are right, one may choose this by comparing it with other technologies. But what I was looking for any personal expereince with MS .NET application development and based on his/her personal expereince, any list of recomendations for choosing or not choosing that framework for development.
I am doing analytical study these days and trying to formulate some of the recomendations, which i would share with u soon.

c ya
Haroon

 

[AtillaTheMagyar]

Well, I can give you my experience as with .Net (C#) vs. VB/ASP.

I have worked with WinForms and ASP.Net and both roughly double my output per hour. Of course there has been a learning curve, but it is small compared to the speed improvement I have seen.

ASP.Net has moved to support standard functionally (displaying data in a table on a web page) via properies. Now, instead of my code looping through a set of data and building HTML, I simply bind a DataSet to a web control and voila, I am done. Old way: 4 hours. New way, 1-2 hours.

As for WinForms development, there is so much functionality that Microsoft built into the Framework that there is almost no need for API calls (a pain with VB). Whether you are working with graphics, tweeking the shape of a form, downloading files via the Net, etc. everything is so much faster to write than before. And from my experience in enterprise development and enterprise development management, speed of development is the most important issue going. Programmers are expensive and budgets are tight. For me, .Net allows us to put out a lot of software quickly.

The whole multi-language thing to me means nothing. The differences are so small. Since everything is done through the Framework, how an IF statement or a loop are executed is trivial.

I hope this helps.

 

[sweb]

I quite like Java and have quite a bit of investment in it (time and money) but I'm throwing this all away for .NET. The language of Java is quite nice to use but if you don't like it (and I know quite a few people just can't get on with it) then you're stuffed. Platform independance is a good thing and the most important thing for some people but like I said, if you don't like the language itself what can you do. Plus I hate those frigging layout managers
.NET is at the moment platform specific but language independant. I love that. Don't like VB ? Use Eiffel. Don't like C# ? Use (upcoming .NET impl) Delphi. Over time the list will be very long and this can only be a good thing.
The framework is so good and I love C# it's such a great language, if you dont mind auto garbage.

It has a fantastic editor too. Use JBuilder on a modest PC and you'll realise how big a point this is.

Better quit I sound like a fanboy and up till now I've always avoided M$ stuff

 

[chiph]

I guess the thing I like most about the .NET framework is the unified vision behind it.

One of the things I dislike about your usual open-source or Java development effort is that you're never sure which library/framework can be found on people's computers. If you're selling software for money, this is a big thing, as you can't always tell a customer "Oh, you need to install these 12 packages first", as they've probably already decided on some combination that is incompatible.

I'm not a big fan of MS's business practices, but I have to admit that .NET is technically elegant, and I like it a lot.

Chip H.