Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by devjab 730 days ago
Best at what exactly? I can’t think of a single thing you would pick C# for instead of Java/Go, C/C++/Rust/Zig, Python or JavaScript/Typescript.

Not because C# is a bad language but because it’s not particularly good at anything. It’s a jack-of-all trades which isn’t even the best jack-of-all trades. So unless you have a lot of years put into it, either in your software stack or in your employees there is very little reason to use it in 2024.

But maybe you know of reasons to use that I’m not aware of?
4 comments
mandeepj 730 days ago
> Best at what exactly? I can’t think of a single thing you would pick C# for instead of Java/Go, C/C++/Rust/Zig, Python or JavaScript/Typescript.

C# was the first to get async/await, generics, LINQ, PLINQ etc - the path-breaking features that shoot up not only productivity but the ability to do certain things in a much better way.

Just because kids have caught up, it doesn't mean we are going to abandon the daddy.

link
devjab 729 days ago
That’s sort of what I said though. You use C# because you used to use it. It’s like that for a lot of languages. I think it’s largely why Java is still around, and the wait paid off considering Java has overtaken C# on many aspects.

but if you were going to pick a tech for a new project without a history of using C#, why would you pick it in 2024? If you’ve got a large .Net stack and a lot of experience with it, it’s still a great choice. I was a c# developer for a decade mind you, and I’m not sure I’ll ever use it again because it sort of lost its foothold despite being in a really great place.

link
phito 729 days ago
> it sort of lost its foothold

I think you're just in a bubble. dotnet is widely used, and keeps getting better. I can program in many languages and yet csharp will very often be my go to for backend stuff because it's just the best.

link
neonsunset 730 days ago
Java and Go are both almost unusable at, for example, writing games unlike C# which has rich ecosystem for this, and it has been gaining performance oriented features in every recent version that make it able to compete with C and C++, be it compiler improvements or SIMD API. Meanwhile Java: https://x.com/lemire/status/1803101802700664955?s=46&t=QDsm5...
link
high_na_euv 730 days ago
Very good lang, coherent ecosystem, great tooling, well designed std lib

By far the best developer experience I ever had was in C#.

I wish other langs like cpp or c were at least half as good at those as C#

link
phito 730 days ago
> it’s not particularly good at anything

It's extremely good for web APIs, for one.

link