I'm considering using VJ# in a first programming course in addition to or in
place of
JBuilder and the J2SE. Given install problems other students have had, VJ#
seems like a nice alternative.
I expect criticism. But:
1. Most of my students are using WinXP.
2. VJ#.Net Express is free and has an outstanding GUI.
3. Code written in VJ#, via the Mono Project could always be ported to other
platforms.
4. Java compiler source seems close to moving into Open Source - I think!

What is the groups opinion
TIA
Bob

"Bob Palank" <bob (AT) stlcc (DOT) org> wrote

I see.

For systems on which there is already installed the .Net framework it is. If
the framework is not installed I guess it depends on what you think about
downloading and installing a 20mb setup application.

Wise man.

Yup.

Yup.

Right. I've never tried that but, FWIW, I did run a trivial "Hello-World"
application I developed in C# with VS2003 and ran it on a Fedora box with
Mono installed.

So I hear.

Well, the few prople who post here are probably not a represenatative
sample, having already bought in to the .Net framework. But as I see it, it
depends on what your goal is. Are you teaching programming first and
foremost and a particular language secomdarily? Or is Java your main focus?
If the former, I think you are on solid ground. If the latter, IMO you will
need to limit your instruction to those language and class library elements
in the intersection of Java and .Net .

Regards,
Will

"Bob Palank" <bob (AT) stlcc (DOT) org> wrote

able to present current language features (Scanner class, generics,
autoboxing, etc.) using VJ#, IIRC.
BTW, I feel your pain as a Java teacher. I wish I could find an IDE for
Java that even comes close to VS in terms of allowing beginning students a
comfortable environment for simple programs a la the VS console projects for
C++ and C#.