Thread: C++ or C#?

For anyone seeing this thread after I made a decision, here is my decision:
1. I wanna use Unity for my first game project, and they have C# but not C++, I believe that when I use Visual Studio only, I will have an easy time to re-learn.
2. I heard it has a less steep learning curve
3. I can bring it across major platforms. #mono

BTW, is C# like C++?

Thanks

Yeah, I was looking Unity up and apparently it's written in C++ but the interface for a user is C#, which I find odd. Perhaps the idea is that a scripting language would be a better choice for interacting with the software without directly dealing with its guts.

Originally Posted by Yarin

Use C#, it's by far better.

C# is bound to the garden of Microsoft, where things are kept nice and ordely for everyone's benefit. But C++ is on any random platform, it's freedom is bad. Like it would be for weed.
C# uses a nice massive runtime, but C++'s runtime is pretty small and ubiquitous. So when your users don't see those dependencies they'll think it's not a very well supported program.
C# is dynamic, so when things take a long time to happen, your users will know it's getting stuff done. But C++ is natively compiled so when things happen fast, your users will think it's not getting any real work done.
C# is spontaneously garbage collected, so you can write code without caring about resources. In C++ you're encouraged to use predictable features like RAII, and when you have to consider everything your code is doing it hurts your productivity.

Garden of Microsoft? That must be news to linux C# developers using mono.

Since he is wanting to make a game, C# and C++ are still both perfectly viable languages to use. If he wants to be locked to Microsoft only systems then by all means use C# and all MS specific libraries. If you plan to go cross-platform then start looking into cross-platform libraries (most of the tutorials I find for them are in C++). Depending on who you ask, some recommend learning Java or C# before coming to C++. In the end, it is entirely up to you and what you want to use.

Originally Posted by Elysia

Originally Posted by lolllol

BTW, is C# like C++?

Yes and no. Similar syntax, yes, and being object oriented, yes, but otherwise, no. It's a completely different language.

This may just be the Lisp, ML, and Prolog in me talking, but C# is a decendant of C++, I would say it's definitely a lot like it.

Originally Posted by BHXSpecter

Originally Posted by Yarin

C# is bound to the garden of Microsoft

Garden of Microsoft? That must be news to linux C# developers using mono.

Maybe. But that doesn't discount what I said.

Alice: The WinAPI is bound to the garden of Microsoft
Bob: Garden of Microsoft? That must be news to linux WinAPI developers using Wine.

I still love Yarin's post though XD

It makes my soul happy

Originally Posted by Yarin

Alice: The WinAPI is bound to the garden of Microsoft
Bob: Garden of Microsoft? That must be news to linux WinAPI developers using Wine.

Not being argumentative here, just really want to know the truth -- is this a fair comparison? It's my understanding and personal experience that Wine is missing a LOT of functionality. A lot of programs don't work or otherwise I'd never touch Windows ever again. Like, unless someone has taken the time to get a specific program to work, there's like 50% chance it won't work. I was under the impression that Mono had a lot of stuff implemented and does a pretty good job compatibility-wise (I have no experience with this, just hearsay). I looked it up and they've implemented all of .NET 2.0 but are still working on stuff past that.

My 2 cents on the topic subject: due to the implementation, I'd liken C# more to Java than to C++.

I can only really tell you this much, Wine can't play a lot of videogames. It plays Steam and DotA 2 which is all that matters (Linux version is worse) but aside from that, I'd never put any real faith in Wine aside from it being a fun thing to tinker with.