.NET does not (yet?) have the same level of availability of high quality free libraries that other major platforms do. Things like image processing, database DSLs, etc. I think this is in part because Microsoft provides such a comprehensive stack that it kind of discourages the kind of diversity that leads to the proliferation of libraries.
My experience is that LINQ pretty much beats every other way of interacting with a database I've ever seen.
Core is likely a more restrictive right now - EF Core for example is still in a very weak state, but things are improving and in a few versions I fully expect it to be a solid product.
[0]: http://www.aidanjryan.com/blog/2012/08/25/sqlmetal-bug-with-...
The initial version in 2008 was a total mess. It wasn’t until a few years later that the XML definition and code generation junk was removed and it became useable.
Until you're going to do more complex queries over multiple tables.
On your second point, isn't that a good thing?
.NET has the most comprehensive set of high quality paid libraries i have worked with so far. Yes they can be expensive, but you get long term support and professional documentation. For a commercial product this is worth a lot.
Personally, I prefer to use the most productive language for a project I can get away with because the largest risk is you are simply never going to finish it.
Like what? Care to elaborate?
My conclusion was that next time I'd be better off learning Java. C# seems better but there is a lot of cool stuff written in Java so it's probably not that bad. When I look at machine learning and AI it seems Python and Java also are the best options with everything else way behind.
Ha. I remember this. My co-worker was trying to do the same in .Net, but while he was looking the Lucene port to .net was well underway, so you were probably 6 months to a year ahead of him.
I guess all I can say is that you are a pioneer. Most of the special things in Java eventually get ported to .Net.
Also you're right that the standard framework libraries are very comprehensive, which in fact lessens the need for 3rd party dependencies in the first place. Stuff like LINQ and await/async is incredibly productive and unmatched elsewhere. Why rely on various outside libraries when you already have what you need?