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Comment by samus | Hacker News Reader

This is a bit inappropriate since for a long time now Java was busy catching up to C#. When Project Valhalla merges, Java's type system will become very close to what C# is now: reified generics and first-class value types. Algebraic data types will also come to town. But only after Project Loom merges, Java will be firmly ahead again with a fresh take on all matters async.

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But C# was literally Microsoft's Java implementation that they forked after they were sued by Sun, was it not? So it is quite appropriate.

Microsoft's Java implementation that got them sued was J++. As part of the settlement, they weren't allowed to add any new features to it, and it quietly faded into obscurity, along with its CLR counterpart J#, the latter having finally left even extended support in 2017.

C# was developed independently of J++ and J# (though J# was based on J++ to provide a transition path for J++ developers), and although Anders Hejlsberg (original lead architect of C#) did also work on J++, he also worked on Turbo Pascal and Delphi before coming to Microsoft, and I'd suspect that those influenced C# more (more conceptually than syntactically, of course).

C#'s development was motivated by their relationship with Sun, but J++ was MS's non-conforming Java implementation. They were sued for it, and basically couldn't develop it any further (with regard to maintaining Java compatibility, to the extent that they cared to at least).

C# also keeps copying Java stuff to this day like default interface methods.

In fact, having had spent most of my focus across Java, .NET and C++ since their early days, it is quite interesting to follow how certain features keep being copied across them.

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