Why would you want to use C# if its slower than C++? [closed]

Answer 1

Even if C++ is faster to run, the difference isn't big on today's computers. That's why on mobile devices where cpu and memory are rather limited, C/C++ is still widely used.

But think about development times instead. If it takes 2 months using C++ and 1 month using C#, which would you go for? And when big modifications/refactoring need to be done, a higher level language makes it significantly faster and easier!

Answer 2

Code written in assembly can be blazingly fast. Why not just write in assembly?

Don't believe everything you hear. C# has been plenty fast for all my projects. Typically, performance is more a factor of design than raw platform performance.

Answer 3

C# is not always slower - in many cases, it can perform just as well as any language you listed. Usually the algorithm has more to do with the speed than the choice of language.

However, C# is very expressive, and has a great base class library to work with, and super-fast compilation. This means that it's very easy to work with, and can allow you to be much more productive than many other languages, especially C++. For example, I just had a small project that I would have budgeted 1 man-week for in C++, and we finished it up in less than a day in C#, mainly because the base class libraries simplified so many of the tasks.

Answer 4

I'd have to say the people you were talking to simply don't know what they're talking about. Plain and simple.

Many enterprise level applications are built on top of C# and other .Net languages. There is nothing inherently slow about them. Yes the tend to have slower startup times but that's pretty much where it ends.

I noticed you mentioned Java in the list of languages. If you're comfortable with the speed of Java, C# will not present any issues. Generally speaking C# performs at least as well as Java on many different types of bench marks.

Answer 5

I haven't found many instances where C# isn't a good choice of languages, and .Net (or Mono) isn't a decent platform. Notable exceptions being kernel level development, or drivers. There are plenty of areas where low level, and raw performance is needed. For most, if no all business, or Enterprise applications C# is one of the better choices for development. It's well supported, works with many other systems, libraries, communications channels and components already available not to mention being a fairly nice language (esp. 3.5) to work with.

ASP.Net wasn't a bad platform, I generally find the object/control stack to be one of the short comings for complex interactions. I think ASP.Net MVC fits better for more scalable web based applications. Just the same, it's better than many other systems I've worked with in the past.

In terms of service layers, and even GUI development it's pretty nice. I've got a lot more experience in web based applications, and service/communications/business layers than with desktop GUI applications, so can't comment much there. I feel a lot of GUI development is more about the IDE/Toolkit, than the particular language.

As to slow, you specifically list Java, in most instances, C#/.Net is as fast or faster than Java. IMHO development specifically goes smoother with C# (Visual Studio) over Java (Eclipse). For web-based apps, I like ASP.Net MVC (and even ASP.Net) over Swing. That's just me though.