>Both C# and Java *look* like C/C++. Unlike C/C++, you don't have to deal with f****n pointers.
>
>>Despite the name, doesn't C# more closely resemble Java than C? I think of it as Java for .NET.


Craig, I wrote a ton of C/C++ code in the 1990's (not much after that). And that included pointers. Sure, they were difficult....I spent many nights hand-writing notes on a piece of paper, and/or watching memory address values in either CodeView or Turbo Debugger. But it was a valuable exercise for me at the time and I felt it made me stronger with the tool at the time. So once could say it was a form of "gardening" at the time :)

You're right, with C#, you don't have to deal with them.

Different topic but same message - I'd prefer not to have to write bloody dynamic SQL and (gasp) I'd prefer never to use cursors in SQL Server. But the other day I had a problem at work that I just could not effectively solve without a cursor. Not the solution I wanted, but certain better than if I didn't know how to use them. So sometimes that gardener really needs to get his/her hands/knees really really dirty :)