Considering the rapid pace of changes in the software field and the limited courses that a student can take in languages, the question is which languages are crucial for students to learn in an undergraduate IS curriculum. This paper investigates the necessity of teaching C# and .NET in the undergraduate IS curriculum. It explores the pros and cons of .Net versus J2EE for applications development and differences between C#, C++ and Java, and which one may be the best language for teaching first programming course in IS curriculum.

C# is Microsoft’s latest object-oriented
programming language developed for .NET platform and .NET is Microsoft’s latest platform technology for creating web services. C# is a C++ based language and was developed to provide portability for distributed applications over network and internet. Application development in .NET platform can be done in multiple languages including C#, C++, and Visual Basic. Programs developed in all of these languages are compiled to Microsoft’s Intermediate Language (IL) and executed within Common Language Runtime (CLR). We explain the core elements of .NET and how web applications are developed and run with this technology. .NET is not a programming language; it’s a virtual-machine technology (similar to Java virtual machine technology) with a framework that provides capability to run a variety of web applications. The .NET framework class library provides a set of classes that provide essential functionality for applications build within the .NET environment. Web functionality, XML support, database support, threading and distributed computing support is provided by the .NET framework class library.

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