The .NET environment will utilise a number of different languages for
different tasks, just like the web programming environment we use today.
There is no one language to use, there will be a choice of scripting and
compiled languages, and the ones to use will be largely down to the skillset
of the programmer, just as it is today.

JScript.NET is Microsoft's fancy name for their newest implementation of
javascript.  C# is their answer to Java.  So basically in the .NET
environment, JScript.NET will be used for client side scripting, or ASP.NET
scripting for that matter, and there will be a VBScript equivalent too.
Although for client side scripting you would still want to say
"language=javascript" for compatibility with Netscape and other browsers.
JScript.NET will be based on the ECMAScript 3 (I think its 3, newest one
anyway) standard, as will Sun's JavaScript 2, so they will be largely
compatible.  C# is a compiled language which will be used for server-side
components or activeX controls (or activeX.NET or whatever they will be
called), as is VB.NET.

C# is being largely plugged by Microsoft in an attempt to tempt java
programmers into the Microsoft fold.  Also people from a C++ background
should find it a doddle, although they might get frustrated if they expect
it to do everything C++ can.  People from a VB background will continue to
use VB.NET, which promises to have much improved performance from the
current version of VB.  I don't think there will be any difference in
performance between C# and VB.NET, which to use will only depend on what the
programmer feels more comfortable with.  Anyway, if performance was the most
important issue then we'd all be writing C++, but these days hardware is
cheap and developers are expensive so thats why we need these new simpler
languages so that applications can be developed far more quickly.  It'll
cost a lot less to get someone trained in C# than in C++, and if the
applications they write dont run as fast then just shove another processor
in the server.

-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda [mailto:amandak@w...]
Sent: 04 September 2001 10:38
To: javascript
Subject: [javascript] RE: JScript .NET



> I haven't looked into it that much, but my preference is that if you're
> going to 
> build a .NET apllication, C# is the language to use.

There seems to be a strong pull towards C# as a .NET language. But I 
wonder how much of this is because of marketing and more complete 
documentation in C# than in JScript.NET? Is there that much more that can 
be done in C# than in JScript.NET? If the only programming you have done 
is in JScript, doesn't JScript.NET have more of a pull than C#?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions :-)

Amanda