Java, PHP, Node.js... What if the real surprise was .NET?

I recently read an article titled ❝ Why Node.js is better than PHP and .NET? ❞

And that got me thinking, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at what .NET and C# actually offer today. Because yes, some debates seem eternal: pineapple on pizza or not, Marvel or DC, Star Wars or Star Trek, Java, PHP, Node.js... or .NET. As strange as it may sound, the dev world has been divided over these choices for decades.

Each of these languages has its strengths, use cases, and its own philosophy.

PHP, the engine behind the explosion of dynamic web development, has evolved over time. But its history of flexible coding styles and loosely structured approaches still affects the clarity and consistency of many modern projects. Java, strong and deeply rooted in the industry, remains a pillar of back-end development and Android. It evolves cautiously, with slow and measured updates, so as not to shake up the massive production ecosystem it supports. JavaScript shows wild agility, present on both front and backends via Node.js, but at the cost of a constantly shifting ecosystem, with new trends every quarter.

And then there’s .NET and C#, often lumped into the “Microsoft tech” bucket, too quickly dismissed due to old stereotypes, lack of visibility… or as if it were some kind of dirty word. Brrr!

🟣 Spoiler: that couldn’t be further from the truth!

If you’ve ever written Java, chances are you’ve screamed at a NullPointerException that popped up out of nowhere — that dreaded error that strikes when you try to use a variable… that holds absolutely nothing. And instead of warning you gently, it just crashes everything without notice.

In C#, since version 8, nullable types with annotations (string?, int?) allow catching at compile time what Java usually lets through until runtime... a way to prevent before punishing. Alright, I’ll admit it: recent versions of Java have introduced improvements for null handling. But it’s neither native nor as integrated as in C#. And honestly, I’m not sure it solves every case. Even lambda expressions are readable:

var books = myDb.Books.Where(b => b.Author == "agatha-christie").ToList();

Because .NET isn’t just a language. It’s a full ecosystem, a unified and consistent toolbox, built on a common foundation to support web (ASP.NET Core), desktop and mobile (with .NET MAUI), and even cloud workloads on Azure.

With .NET 6, 7, and 8, you can write a single application and run it on Linux, Windows, macOS, Power, Android, or iOS — without switching stacks or juggling multiple tools. All with the same SDK, and a single command:

dotnet build

And if you want to deploy your app, it only takes one line to containerize it with Docker:

docker build -t myapp .

Visual Studio can automatically generate a Dockerfile, build the image, and publish it — all without writing a single script. From the command line, the image is built in seconds, multi-platform by default, and ready to be deployed wherever you need. In contrast, with most of the previously mentioned stacks, you have to assemble everything yourself: manually write the Dockerfile, manage dependencies, configure the environment, and orchestrate the whole thing using external tools… In short, it’s tedious, fragile, and rarely unified.

.NET Core has truly matured technically, and that’s no accident. Fast, lightweight, and scalable, it combines strong performance with a multithreaded architecture, making it a top-tier solution for modern backends. With around 610,000 requests per second measured in the latest TechEmpower benchmarks, it outperforms most PHP and Node.js stacks, even in real-world, database-backed scenarios. It’s now recognized as one of the most efficient frameworks for enterprise-grade and backend web development.

❝ .NET is great for enterprise-level applications… Node.js shines in real-time scenarios, but .NET wins in CPU performance and security. ❞
— TechMagic

And to truly take advantage of it, you still need the right tools to code, debug, test, and ship in good conditions. And in that department, it’s hard to beat Visual Studio (or JetBrains Rider, if you’re the demanding type). It’s arguably the most comfortable and fully-featured IDE on the market.

Step-by-step debugging, even in asynchronous code, a steroid-boosted IntelliSense, built-in hot reload to see changes live without restarting the app, integrated profilers to analyze CPU usage, memory consumption, and execution time... everything is designed to speed up development and secure your delivery pipeline.

And if you’re more into the command line, clean versioning, and automation, the .NET CLI, GitHub Actions workflows, and modern DevOps tooling let you orchestrate it all: build, test, deploy, even push to the cloud.

Microsoft (alongside the .NET Foundation community) ensures that C# continues to evolve quickly, but in the right way. For the record, C# (pronounced C sharp) is the primary language of the .NET ecosystem. Every two years, a new version is released: stable, consistent, and backward-compatible. Modern additions like pattern matching now allow you to write much clearer logic than a cascade of if or switch statements. No more type checking and casting by hand — C# takes care of that for you:

if(obj is Person p && p.Age > 18)
	Console.WriteLine($”{p.Name} is an adult”);

Or take record types, a simple way to declare immutable objects, perfect for representing domain data or DTOs (Data Transfer Objects), with value-based equality, deconstruction, and even support for with-expressions (clone with modification):

public record Book(string Title, string Author);

You can then do:

var book1 = new Book(“1984”, “Orwell”);
var book2 = book1 with {Title = “Animal Farm”};

And since records compare by value:

book1 == book2 // false, because the titles are different

Another feature that makes life easier: top-level statements. No need for a full Main() method to start a program:

Console.WriteLine("Hello Aumerial!");

And these are just a few examples. C# keeps getting sharper with every release, making tools and scripts more readable and quicker to write. It's clean, practical, and built for real-world development.

Sure, the hype might be elsewhere...

But serious projects are looking for stability, performance, and a clean architecture that can evolve without breaking everything. And that’s exactly what .NET and C# offer: a solid backend, a reliable UI, and a platform that runs smoothly, everywhere.

Because in the end, what’s the real luxury in software development? Using a tool that’s reliable, enjoyable to work with day after day, consistent from end to end, and complete enough to cover everything, from web to embedded systems.

With .NET, everything is centralized: one language, one runtime, one development environment. Whether you're building a REST API, a mobile app, a cloud service, a desktop UI, or even a Unity game… You’ll be using the same syntax, the same concepts, the same ecosystem, and very often, the same entry point (Program.cs).

One framework. One expertise. One language to master.
A true advantage when it comes to scaling, onboarding teams, or simply keeping control.

So next time a colleague says:
"Java, PHP, and Node.js are better!"

Just ask them one thing:
"Have you really tried C#? 😉"

Quentin DESTRADE