Top "Language-features" questions

A language feature is a distinct aspect of a programming language, such as binding rules, lexical design, or facets of the type system.

What are the differences between "generic" types in C++ and Java?

Java has generics and C++ provides a very strong programming model with templates. So then, what is the difference between …

java c++ generics templates language-features
How does "this" keyword work within a function?

I just came across an interesting situation in JavaScript. I have a class with a method that defines several objects …

javascript language-features language-design
What is the purpose of long, double, byte, char in Java?

So I'm learning java, and I have a question. It seems that the types int, boolean and string will be …

java variables types language-features
Is SQL or even TSQL Turing Complete?

This came up at the office today. I have no plans of doing such a thing, but theoretically could you …

sql tsql programming-languages language-features
Are there legitimate uses for JavaScript's "with" statement?

Alan Storm's comments in response to my answer regarding the with statement got me thinking. I've seldom found a reason …

javascript language-features with-statement
python ? (conditional/ternary) operator for assignments

C and many other languages have a conditional (aka ternary) operator. This allows you to make very terse choices between …

python c language-features
VB.NET equivalent of C# property shorthand?

Is there a VB.NET equivalent to the C#: public string FirstName { get; set; } I know you can do Public …

c# vb.net language-features
What is the purpose of python's inner classes?

Python's inner/nested classes confuse me. Is there something that can't be accomplished without them? If so, what is that …

python class oop language-features
Why doesn't a python dict.update() return the object?

I 'm trying to do : award_dict = { "url" : "http://facebook.com", "imageurl" : "http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3939267074_feb9eb19b1_…

python dictionary language-design language-features
What's the difference between a hash and hash reference in Perl?

I would like to properly understand hashes in Perl. I've had to use Perl intermittently for quite some time and …

perl hash language-features hash-reference