Chapter 3. JUMP to .NET and J#

If you are a Java developer who is picking up C# (and .NET), it will be nice to know a bit more about Microsoft's JUMP to .NET ^[1] initiative and J# – even if you have chosen to learn C# instead of J# for programming .NET.

^[1] Check out the official website at http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualj/jump

Microsoft apparently decided that in order to woo the 2.5 million Java developers over to .NET, more had to be done in the way of encouragement. JUMP to .NET (which aptly stands for Java User Migration Path to .NET ^[2]) is Microsoft's initiative to make it easier for current Java developers to move over.

^[2] I wonder who came up with this acronym. I think it's very clever indeed!

JUMP to .NET consists of two important components:

• Java Language Conversion Assistant. ^[3]

  ^[3] At the time of writing, this tool is in the beta stage. It can be downloaded at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/jca/default.asp

• J#