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.

Why does Java permit escaped unicode characters in the source code?

I recently learned that Unicode is permitted within Java source code not only as Unicode characters (eg. double π = Math.PI; ) …

java unicode language-features
Java's switch equivalent in Clojure?

Is there an equivalent for Java's switch construct in Clojure? If yes, what is it? If no, do we have …

java clojure language-features
Methods in Ruby: objects or not?

Inspired by this discussion, after some googling I wasn't able to find an answer to a pretty simple question regarding …

ruby object methods language-features
C# internal VS VBNET Friend

To this SO question: What is the C# equivalent of friend?, I would personally have answered "internal", just like Ja …

.net language-features keyword c#-to-vb.net vb.net-to-c#
Why are private fields private to the type, not the instance?

In C# (and many other languages) it's perfectly legitimate to access private fields of other instances of the same type. …

c# oop language-design language-features private-members
Why the difference between int a[5] = {0} and int a[5]={1} (Missing Feature)

When we initialize an array like this int a[5] = {0}, the compiler makes all 5 elements 0. That is really good, compact-initialization and …

c++ arrays language-design language-features array-initialization
What is the rationale for not having static constructor in C++?

What is the rationale for not having static constructor in C++? If it were allowed, we would be initializing all …

c++ constructor language-design language-features static-constructor
How does your favorite language handle deep recursion?

I recently started learning Python and I was rather surprised to find a 1000 deep recursion limit (by default). If you …

language-agnostic recursion language-features language-design
Is there a better C?

I want a better C. Let me explain: I do a lot of programming in C, which is required for …

programming-languages language-features real-time
Can you do Logic Programming in Scala?

I read somewhere that Pattern Matching like that supported by the match/case feature in Scala was actually borrowed from …

scala programming-languages prolog language-features logic-programming