I love that Java and C# (not sure about VB.NET and F# in the .NET ecosystem) are continuing to get handy language features instead of collecting dust. The array syntax stuff is a nice win.
Having other languages be the guinea pigs for language features is a good way to go.
C# designers have always made good choices about syntactic additions. Contrast this to modern C++ designers who jam in every new addition with the goal of total inscrutability.
In ISO languages the features that get win are the ones that win elections rounds, currently C++ has more than 300 people voting, and submitting proposals, that is naturally a problem.
Yeah, it feels like Java (the language, not the JVM or ecosystem) was stuck in limbo since generics were added in Java 5, during that time C# came out and overtook it in terms of features / developer ergonomics.
Yeah I guess the company responsible for Java going bankrupt, and having its team getting up to the grips with the new employer might have something to do with it.
Still there are plenty of markets where even .NET doesn't have a presence, like real time embedded systems, factory automation hardware, copiers, mainframes, blueray players, M2M gateways, and an OS being used by 80% of the planet, as Microsoft botched their own when it was already achieving 10% in Europe.
I love both platforms, however .NET cross-platform story still needs a bit of improvement versus where Java has been used in the last 28 years.
And DevTools eagerness to hinder it as means to sell Visual Studio licenses doesn't help.
They seem to have picked most of the low hanging fruit though. Most of this is nice to have but not earth shattering.
The only feature I've been hoping for is abstract data types. I'm not sure how they could make them work in .Net though. Presumably F# has crossed that hurdle.
Having other languages be the guinea pigs for language features is a good way to go.