When looking at the history of C#, I found out that C# was seen as an update to C and/or C++. This came a bit as a surprise to me, as on the surface, I see much more common ideas between C# and Java (Garbage collection comes to mind). I don't write code in Java, but I have usually no problem following Java code, and routinely read books about patterns in Java that I can readily transpose in C#, and can honestly not say the same about C++.
So my question is, how is C# closer to C++ than to Java? Is this simply a refusal to acknowledge Java, or am I missing or misunderstanding something?
IMO, the idea that C# is inspired more from C++ than Java is marketing only; an attempt to bring die-hard C++ programmers into the managed world in a way that Java was never able to do. C# is derived from Java primarily; anyone who looks at the history, particularly the Java VM wars of the mid 90s between Sun and Microsoft, can see that Java is the primary parent.
The syntax of C# is closer to C++ in only certain areas: pointer manipulation (which Java doesn't have), derivation declaration (i.e. public class Foo : Bar, IBaz rather than public class Foo extends Bar implements IBaz), and operator overloading.
Everything else is either just like Java (static main declared in a class declaration, no header files, single inheritance, many others), just like both Java and C++ (basic syntax), or uniquely C# (properties, delegates, many many others).