Microsoft Visual J# .NET (Core Reference) (Pro-Developer)

Blaise Pascal, Ada Lovelace, Edna Cobol, and now John Sharp. What do we all have in common? Well, as it happens, not as much as my ego would like. It would be nice to think that Microsoft named Visual J# after me, but sadly that's not the case. It's just one of those strange coincidences that happens from time to time.

So, what is J# and why has Microsoft developed it? In some ways, it's easier to say what J# isn't. J# is not Java. J# is a programming language that uses Java syntax so that Java developers can build applications with the Microsoft .NET Framework. You'll find that you can recompile many existing Java classes using J# to generate executables that will run in the .NET common language runtime. J# is also a great language for developing new applications. It provides a path into .NET for Java and J++ developers who don't want to abandon the comfort of a familiar syntax.

This book describes how to build enterprise applications in a .NET environment using J# and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Building distributed systems is what .NET is designed to help you do. It offers a rich framework of classes that provide an infrastructure that you can extend to meet your own requirements. This book shows in detail how you can exploit the multitude of .NET features while programming in J#. As a result, you'll find a lot of information in this book about how .NET and the common language runtime work.

What doesn't this book do? This book will not teach you how to program in Java ”we're assuming that you're familiar with the syntax and semantics of the Java language. Many of the concepts and ideas are presented in terms that a Java developer should understand, but where J# concepts are distinctly different we try to explain them more thoroughly.

Writing a book of this nature about an unreleased product is a challenging task. And a product that is not finished tends to change and mutate a little as it edges toward the release date. (If you have either of the publicly available beta releases, you should upgrade because significant changes have been made!) However, as always, we take full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this book and would be delighted to hear about them so we can fix them.

P.S. Before anybody e- mails me, I know that COBOL was not named after Edna Cobol. She just happens to be my pet cat's psychotherapist and she agreed to waive her fees if I gave her a mention.