Rules of Thumb for Selecting a .NET Language

Several questions need to be answered before selecting a programming language for a given project:

• What skills does the current programming staff have, and how easy is it to hire new programmers?
• Are the components being developed for a single end-user application, or are they fundamental components that will be reused by other programmers in a variety of situations?
• Does the application require new code to be written from the ground up, or is it possible to only modify and adapt existing code?
• Is the use of third-party (non-Microsoft) languages and tools acceptable?

The following rules of thumb might assist developers in choosing a .NET development platform language:

• Most Visual Basic (VB) developers will probably be best served by continuing to use VB (VB.NET).
• VB developers who are already comfortable using the more advanced capabilities of VB will want to take a serious look at C# as an additional tool.
• Developers who are already familiar with Java or J++ will find C# the most