Celebrity Deathmatch (VB.NET vs C#)

AspDotNetDev

There hasn't been a good "why language X sucks and language Y is better" thread in a good while, so I thought I'd start one. Unlike most, however, this one has rules. I will post a reason C# is better than VB.NET and somebody reply with a reason VB.NET is better than C#. I (or somebody else) will then reply to that message stating another reason C# is better. And so on. Also, you must show code examples (when appropriate). I'll start. C# Is Less Verbose

Public Sub Something()
' VB.NET...
End Sub

public void Something()
{
// C#...
}

You're turn (post why VB.NET is better than C#). :)

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AspDotNetDev

I'll give an example reply as well... VB.NET is Backward Compatible with VB6

On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Throw New Exception("Error!")
Return

ErrorHandler:
MessageBox.Show("Darn!")

C# does not have this handy backward compatibility, so upgrading from VB6 is more difficult when going to C#.

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cechode

i'm not a vb guy anymore but when i was i LOVED exit on first failed step. ( instead of nested if's )

    Select Case False
        Case Step1()
        Case Step2()
        Case Step3()
    End Select

cant do that in C#

Nish Nishant

VB.NET supports by-ref extension methods. As of 4.0, C# does not.

Regards, Nish

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AspDotNetDev

That's pretty neat! But you can actually get pretty close to that in C#:

var steps = new List<Func<bool>> { Step1, Step2, Step3 };
foreach (var step in steps)
{
if (!step()) break;
}

And if you create this helper function:

void DoEach(params Func<bool>[] steps)
{
foreach (var step in steps)
{
if (!step()) break;
}
}

You can shorten that code even further:

DoEach(new Func<bool>[] {
Step1,
Step2,
Step3
});

Got to love delegate inference! Not sure, but I think there's something in LINQ that does something like this as well. Can't be bothered to try and find it now though.

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Nish Nishant

The VB Select-Case is more flexible than just that. Example from MSDN:

Dim number As Integer = 8
Select Case number
Case 1 To 5
Debug.WriteLine("Between 1 and 5, inclusive")
' The following is the only Case clause that evaluates to True.
Case 6, 7, 8
Debug.WriteLine("Between 6 and 8, inclusive")
Case 9 To 10
Debug.WriteLine("Equal to 9 or 10")
Case Else
Debug.WriteLine("Not between 1 and 10, inclusive")
End Select

Regards, Nish

Are you addicted to CP? If so, check this out: The Code Project Forum Analyzer : Find out how much of a life you don't have! My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

AspDotNetDev

You broke a rule. You didn't post sample code. I'm not sure you are correct, and without sample code I can't be bothered to verify. :(

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Nish Nishant

Oh sorry, it's so well known that I didn't think you'd need code to back it up :-) See this blog post: http://blog.gadodia.net/extension-methods-in-vbnet-and-c/[^]

Regards, Nish

Are you addicted to CP? If so, check this out: The Code Project Forum Analyzer : Find out how much of a life you don't have! My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

cechode

this would be a linq version

        (from f in new List<Func<bool>>() { Step1, Step2, Step3 }
         where !f()
         select 0).FirstOrDefault();

but you are still limited to the same function signature in the vb version it could be

case step1(mystring)
case step2(myint, mystring)
.....

modified on Monday, March 28, 2011 6:56 PM

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

meh. enum = enum.fromString("foo") suffices.

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Nemanja Trifunovic

AspDotNetDev wrote:

C# Is Less Verbose

Not really. Like all C-based languages, C# requires symbols that are of no use either to compiler or humans who read the code. In the example above, the meaning of Sub and End Sub is far clearer than { and }. That kind of "verbosity" is good. Truly expressive languages are for instance ones from ML family. Still too much syntax, but much cleaner and much less unneeded symbols than C/C++/Java/C#

utf8-cpp

AspDotNetDev · modified on Monday, March 28, 2011 6:56 PM

cechode wrote:

but you are still limited to the same function signature

Lambdas + delegate inference:

DoEach(new Func<bool>[]
{
Step1,
() => Step2(5)
});

:-D

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AspDotNetDev

You are right, it does not support passing the primary variable by reference. However, the other parameters can be passed by reference (this is what I thought you were initially claiming could not be done). One could workaround that by passing the primary variable through a second parameter by reference. Still, that's not as nice as VB.NET's implementation.

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AspDotNetDev

Perhaps I should have said "C# Is More Concise". :rolleyes: But kudos to you for bringing up the counter point that VB.NET is more expressive. I think, however, that it's expressive in areas which do not require expressiveness. Maybe "End Sub" makes the code easier to read to somebody not initiated with the language, but it doesn't make the code any easier to write (you would have to know the "End Sub" in advance, so it's not expressing anything until you write it yourself). Of course, intellisense adds "End Whatever" for you, which brings me to my counter point: If-Statements Are Easier To Type in C# Supposing you have a code block and you want to surround it with an if-statement. In VB.NET, you must type "End If" in full:

If True Then
' Code Block.

If you press ENTER after "Then", the "End If" will be added in the wrong place. Instead, you can go to the bottom of the code block and type "End If". In C#:

if (true)
{
// Code Block.

All you have to type is "}" and the code auto-indents nicely. Along those same lines, C# waits until you type the closing brace... VB.NET is a little eager and indents the code before you need it to.

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_Damian S_

AspDotNetDev wrote:

VB.NET is a little eager and indents the code before you need it to.

Seems more like an IDE quirk than a language quirk...

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AspDotNetDev

Indeed. Visual Studio has VB.NET Quirks [see above] Better? :rolleyes:

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AspDotNetDev

I do like that about VB.NET. That would be nice if they added it to C#.

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Nemanja Trifunovic

AspDotNetDev wrote:

Maybe "End Sub" makes the code easier to read to somebody not initiated with the language, but it doesn't make the code any easier to write

Which is a reasonable trade-off. You write code once and read it many times. Besides, with any decent editor, it is a non-issue.

AspDotNetDev wrote:

if (true)
{

I see unnecessary and confusing symbols here. For instance in Go, it would be something like:

if true {

Or (even better) in ML:

if true then

utf8-cpp

AspDotNetDev

Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:

You write code once and read it many times.

By that same reasoning, you learn a language once (well, can take a while for things to sink in) and you can develop software for many years based on that knowledge. It is faster to read "{}" than "Then End If", so why not go for the faster version since it is the one that will lead to the least overall time spent reading if-statements?

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PIEBALDconsult

AspDotNetDev wrote:

Visual Studio has VB.NET Quirks

Oh, Zarquon, no... VS' VB editor keeps deleting stuff; I have to be very careful when I do certain things. I'd give a example, but the wife says that dinner is ready.