Introduction

Now that you have learned the C# language exhaustively, you are equipped with enough skills to develop full-fledged Windows or Web applications. With your new knowledge about the features and the capabilities of the C# language, you are in a position to assess its suitability against that of the Java language as a platform for developing applications, and to choose between the two.

One thing for sure is that the .NET platform is very much here, and here to stay. As a developer, it is a platform you want to get familiar with and have as part of your repertoire. With the aid of this book and the leverage provided by your Java experience, you have learned C# quite easily and quite thoroughly. However, if you still prefer sticking to the Java syntax but want to use the .NET platform, Microsoft has the solution you need.

The .NET platform originally was designed with the primary objective of enabling as many developers using different languages as possible to avail the .NET Framework. To encourage Java developers to use the .NET platform, Microsoft formulated a scheme called JUMP (Java User Migration Path) to .NET. As the name suggests, JUMP to .NET offers developers a number of paths for migrating to the .NET platform. These include tools for converting Visual J++ applications for .NET, a tool for migrating existing code entirely to the C# language, and a new language, J# (pronounced J-Sharp), that uses the Java language syntax for creating new .NET...