The comparison tag has no wiki summary.
56
votes
25answers
58k views
Why do programmers use or recommend Mac OS X? [closed]
I've worked on both Mac and Windows for awhile. However, I'm still having a hard time understanding why programmers enthusiastically choose Mac OS X over Windows and Linux?
I know that there are ...
41
votes
10answers
3k views
What are the areas where the .NET platform is still lagging behind the Java platform? [closed]
It's almost always true that older platforms have more third party tools, libraries, projects, and support. When compared to .NET, Java has all these privileges. But time has passed since .NET first ...
36
votes
4answers
2k views
What are the biggest differences between F# and Scala?
F# and Scala are both functional programming langugages that don't force the developer to only use immutable datatypes. They both have support for objects, can use libraries written in other languages ...
35
votes
5answers
2k views
Dynamically vs Statically typed languages studies
Do there exist studies done on the effectiveness of statically vs dynamically typed languages?
In particular:
Measurements of programmer productivity
Defect Rate
Also including the effects of ...
31
votes
16answers
2k views
Most useful features of VIM that aren't standard in a IDE [closed]
I'm considering whether I should start using VIM again instead of an IDE. What are the most useful features of VIM that aren't standard in an IDE?
30
votes
18answers
2k views
When can you call yourself good at language X?
This goes back to a conversation I've had with my girlfriend. I tried to tell her that I simply don't feel adequate enough in my programming language (C++) to call myself good. She then asked me, ...
30
votes
7answers
9k views
What ASP.NET MVC can do and Ruby on Rails can't? [closed]
ASP.NET MVC and Rails have similar area of use, are built around same architecture, both frameworks are relatively new and open source.
So as a Rails programmer I'd like to know, what ASP.NET MVC can ...
29
votes
12answers
3k views
What's the difference between a “developer” and a “programmer”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What are the key differences between software engineers and programmers?
What is the difference between software engineer and software developer?
What's the difference ...
28
votes
11answers
12k views
Java vs. C# - Productivity perspective [closed]
If you have a number of years experience in working with Java and a number of years experience in working with C# and .NET, I would value your opinion on software development productivity differences ...
22
votes
10answers
3k views
Is there any reason why most programming languages don't have '!>' (not greater than) and '!<' (not less than) operators?
I wonder if there is any reason - or if it is just an accident of history - that there are no !> and !< operators in most programming languages?
a >= b (a greater OR equals b) could be ...
19
votes
2answers
1k views
Haskell web frameworks survey
There are several web frameworks for Haskell like Happstack, Snap, and Yesod, and probably a few more.
In what aspects do they differ from each other? For example:
features (e.g. server only, or ...
17
votes
12answers
856 views
Commented short fancy code vs. uncommented longer easy-to-understand code - which is preferred?
Sometimes an algorithm can be written in two ways:
The short, fancy way; or
The longer, easy-to-understand way.
For example, here is a longer, easier way of copying a string source to dest in C:
...
17
votes
3answers
464 views
Are there any empirical studies on the effect of different languages on software quality?
The proponents of functional programming languages assert that functional programming makes it easier to reason about code. Those in favor of statically typed languages say that their compilers catch ...
15
votes
6answers
879 views
Is Java to Linux what .NET is to Windows?
Is Java becoming the de facto standard from Linux application development in the same way .NET is the standard for Windows application development? If not why not?
15
votes
5answers
1k views
For what types of applications is Python a bad choice?
I just started learning Python, and I'd like to get some more context on the language.
I realize that, in many cases, Python is a slow language relative to C or C++. Thus, Python is probably not the ...
15
votes
8answers
2k views
Are there tools to determine code similarity? [closed]
I'm not talking about a diff tool. I'm really looking to see if a project contains code that may have been "refactored" from another project. It would be likely that function names, variable names ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
How is Node.js different from other server-side frameworks?
I've noticed that Node.js has become very popular, and I've seen several instances of people doing small-scale projects in it.
I've also looked at pros and cons lists to get an idea of what Node.js ...
12
votes
1answer
4k views
What are the main advantages and disadvantages of LL and LR parsing?
When building a parser to a programming language what I earn and what I lost choosing one or the other?
11
votes
6answers
934 views
What features in Eclipse is not available in Visual Studio? [closed]
I have done much development in Java using Eclipse, and now I have started to use Visual Studio for .NET development. So far I find the IDEs to be able to do the same things, but just different.
What ...
10
votes
6answers
319 views
Is there certain payoffs between working for a company in the IT industry, and working for the IT department of a company in some other industry?
I am a software engineering student and am in the process of making some career choices. I need to understand what the major differences are in the above two scenario. Anyone with experience of both, ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
Why Groovy(Java)?
I am looking on a new language to pick up and found out about Groovy.
According to the website, the language is 'agile dynamic' language.
How is it Agile?
How shorter are the syntax compared to ...
10
votes
2answers
465 views
Scala as a language for Generic Programming
In the paper “An Extended Comparative Study of Language Support for Generic Programming” by Garcia et al. an interesting comparison of programming languages features for generic programming is given:
...
9
votes
7answers
553 views
Are Language Comparisons Meaningful?
Dr Bjarne Stroustrup in his book D&E says
Several reviewers asked me to compare C++ to other languages. This I have decided against doing. Thereby, I have reaffirmed a long-standing and ...
8
votes
5answers
2k views
Do Fortran compilers really generate faster code than C compilers?
When I was studying in the university I often heard the idea that Fortran compilers produced faster code than C compilers for an equivalent program.
The key reasoning went like this: a Fortran ...
8
votes
3answers
895 views
How does NUnit for C# compare with Unit Test facility integrated with Visual Studio
I need to work in a team to develop a mid scale Desktop application developed using C# .NET. Prior to this, I have not applied Unit Testing and Test Driven Development. I am aware that there exists ...
7
votes
7answers
946 views
How do you choose to use a specific programming language?
I was having a small talk between teammates about how you choose a programming language for use in a project which lead me to think that there are many criteria to choose one in the beginning of a ...
7
votes
4answers
418 views
Using PHP's ternary operator with only two arguments
I was recently reviewing some of my code and noticed that in a fit of absent-mindedness, I'd left a structure like the following:
$guid = empty($subscription->guid) ? : $subscription->guid;
...
7
votes
1answer
277 views
Is Free Pascal just an open source, multi-platform clone of Turbo Pascal & Delphi?
Does Free Pascal introduce any significant language features over Turbo Pascal & then Delphi, or does it just introduce the Turbo Pascal & Delphi flavors of Pascal to more platforms?
6
votes
3answers
735 views
What are the most common programming mistakes PHP programmers make in Java?
I am more practiced in PHP than in Java, and when I use Java I find myself looking at it from a PHP perspective. This can cause trouble, so I'd like to know, what are the most common programming ...
6
votes
3answers
350 views
Is there any language specific comparison tool?
I have found most of the comparison tools compares just text. But sometimes it will be better to have a option for comparing files of a specific languages. The comparison can be made better if the two ...
6
votes
5answers
574 views
A measure of development speed
I've seen a lot of tests measuring execution speed of programming languages, but I've never found tests measuring development speed.
I've heard development speed is increased when working with ...
6
votes
5answers
384 views
How representative is Ohloh?
My colleague recently pointed me to Ohloh, a website providing statistics on FOSS based on versioning repositories. It's quite a fun procrastination tool, e.g. to compare programming languages by ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Play or Lift: which one is more explicit?
I am going to investigate web development with Scala, and the choice is between learning Lift or Play: probably I will not have enough time to try both, at least at first. Now, many comparisons ...
5
votes
2answers
201 views
Are Scrum and XP comparable things or are they used for different things
Are Scrum and XP comparable things or are they used for different things? what is the main features of each of them? how do they overlap?
I've been reading about both XP and Scrum over the past weeks ...
5
votes
4answers
238 views
What security practices should you be aware of when writing software?
What different types of security do there exist? Why and when should they be implemented?
Example: SQL Injection Prevention
5
votes
2answers
304 views
Why don't many code review tools seem to be syntax aware or provide more in-depth analysis of changes?
Why don't many code review tools seem to be syntax aware or provide more in-depth analysis of changes? Is it simply too hard to do?
I find this to be a major hole of most programmer's toolkits. From ...
4
votes
5answers
359 views
What do you call “X <= $foo <= Y” comparison?
While writing a Perl statement like if ( $foo >= X && $foo <= Y ) yet again, I wondered why many programming languages do not support the more comfortable form if ( X <= $foo <= Y ...
4
votes
6answers
389 views
Teaching a QA person to program
I have a friend who has been doing QA for about a year and wants to further their career. I have always leaned to C using gcc and makefiles as you have to do everything yourself. I have also read ...
4
votes
8answers
883 views
Advantages and possible drawbacks of using Java for cross-platform development vs. .NET?
If I were to begin writing an application using Java with the intention of porting it to other platforms with little or no modification, would it be wise to consider using the .Net framework instead?
...
4
votes
3answers
409 views
Comparison with an outsourced dev center
We are part of a software company which was just acquired by a larger one. This company has a large development center in India; we are based in Europe.
We don't yet know what will happen with our ...
4
votes
4answers
622 views
How can i compare Audio, what programming language should i use
I have 2 audio files that are from almost the same source. But at some points there shifted a bit. Also the codecs does not match.
I would like to make a program that takes a sample 2 - 4 seconds. ...
4
votes
1answer
410 views
Examples of different architecture methodologies
Is there a resource or site which illustrates building the same application (desktop or web) using several different contrasting architectures? Such as MVP versus MVVM versus MVC, etc. It would be ...
3
votes
3answers
231 views
Comparison of languages by usage type?
Does anyone know of a good place to go find comparisons of programming languages by the intended platform/usage? Basically, what I want to know, is of the more popular languages, which ones are meant ...
3
votes
2answers
224 views
Greater than or identical to?
While browsing my code in a weakly-typed language I was seeing that I've trained myself to use identity (===) where logical. Then I came across a greater (or less) than or equal to (>=), and it ...
3
votes
2answers
152 views
Custom graph comparison?
I'm trying to compare two graphs using hash value ( i.e, at the time of comparison, try to avoid traversing the graph )
Is there a way to make a function such that the hash values compared can also ...
3
votes
2answers
237 views
Tricky compareTo, inheritance, easy to extend - Java
Let's say we have 4 classes A, B, C, D where: A is a superclass of both B and C and C is a superclass of D. I suppose, in a diagram, it should look like this:
A
/ \
B C
\
D
...
3
votes
1answer
901 views
Better to inject IoC container or use a Service Locator pattern? [duplicate]
I have an IoC container (If you want a specific one to look at, it's very similar to Unity) and I'm working on how I want to integrate it into my application. My overall goal for this exercise is to ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
c++ write own xml parser vs using tinyxml
I am currently in a task to generate an XML file for an srt text file containing timestamps and corresponding text. To generate an exe file which accepts file name input and outputs the relevant XML ...
2
votes
5answers
195 views
Best practice to sort then reverse, or write “backwards” comparator?
I wrote a comparator for a custom class of mine and when I ran my code I realised the output of my list of these objects was in the reverse order as to what I wanted. It was "ascending" as opposed to ...
2
votes
2answers
785 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various git modes available for emacs?
I just started using git, and because I tend to live in emacs, I want to use one of the emacs integration packages. Looking at this list, I see that there are a lot of packages available, but the ...
