Last update May 27, 2015

Languages Versus D

Difference (last change) (no other diffs, normal page display)

Changed: 32,34c32,34

Array bounds checking; Yes@#green; No@#red; No@#red; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green
Resizable array / Vector; Yes@#green; No@#red; Lib (std.)@#yellow; Yes (v2)@#green; Yes (v1.6)@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; No@#red; Lib@#yellow; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green
Array slicing; Yes@#green; No@#red; No@#red; No@#red; Lib (std.)@#yellow; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Lib@#yellow; No@#red; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green

Array bounds checking; Yes@#green; No@#red; Stdlib@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green
Resizable array / Vector; Yes@#green; No@#red; Stdlib@#green; Yes (v2)@#green; Yes (v1.6)@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; No@#red; Lib@#yellow; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green
Array slicing; Yes@#green; No@#red; Stdlib@#yellow; No@#red; Lib (std.)@#yellow; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Lib@#yellow; No@#red; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green

Changed: 101c101

RAII; Yes@#green; No@#red; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; No@#red; Yes@#green; ; Yes@#green; ; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green;

RAII; Depr.@#red; No@#red; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; No@#red; Yes@#green; ; Yes@#green; ; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green; Yes@#green;

LanguagesVersusD/PageDiscussion

This is an unofficial language comparison page created for some member of the D newsgroup.

If you know any of the unfilled languages, please fill in what you can!

Please note that the left columns - D over C descendants to Java - may not be changed until you have a good reason to. Besides, when filling in other languages, try to adhere to the same judgement as seen behind those 5.

Features

Feature

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Static typing

Yes

Optional (Lib)

Dynamic typing/polymorphism

Polymorphic

Dynamic

Garbage Collection

Yes

Unspec

Yes

Strong typedefs

Yes

N/A

Aliases

Yes

For Objects Only

Yes

Constants

Yes

For Non-Objects? Only

Yes

Value types

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Typed Enumeration/Boolean

Yes

Yes (booleans)

Yes

Yes (v1.5)

Yes

Keywords

Lib

Yes (booleans)

Long double floating point (80bit)

Yes

Lib

Yes

Most

Yes (no single precision floats)

Complex and Imaginary

Yes

Lib (std.)

Lib

Yes

Std. Lib.

Yes

Most

Lib

Yes

Lib

Rational

Lib

Std Lib

Yes

Lib

Arbitrary Precision Arithmetic

Lib (std.)

Yes

Int

Yes

Stdlib

String

Yes

Regular Expression

Lib

Lib (std., v1.5)

Lib

Std. Lib.

Lib

Yes

Lib

Yes

Arrays

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Lightweight array

Yes

Lib

Yes

Lib

Array bounds checking

Yes

Stdlib

Yes

Resizable array / Vector

Yes

Stdlib

Yes (v2)

Yes (v1.6)

Yes

Lib

Yes

Array slicing

Yes

Stdlib

Lib (std.)

Yes

Lib

Yes

Array of bits / Finite set

Yes

Lib (std.)

Yes

Lib

Yes

Lib

Other Data Models

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

List

Lib

Yes

Lib

Yes

Hash

Yes

Lib (std.)

Lib

Yes (Object), Lib (std. Map)

Lib

Yes

Abstract collection

Yes (v1.6)

Yes (TCollection)

Functions

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Function delegates

Yes

Function overloading

Yes

Out function parameters

Yes

N/A

Yes

Nested functions

Yes

Sort of (local inner classes)

Yes

Function literals

Yes

Yes (v2)

Sort of (anon. inner classes)

Yes

Dynamic closures

Yes

LexicalClosures

Yes (v2)

Limited (anon. inner classes)

Yes

Currying (unclear, is this currying or partial application?)

Lib

Yes

Lib

Yes

Non-class functions

Yes

OOP

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Modules/Namespaces

Yes

Namespaces

Yes

Packages

Yes

Some

Yes

N/S

Single Inheritance

Yes

Sort of

Yes

Multiple Inheritance

Yes

Some

Sort of

Yes

Some

Yes

Sort of

Interfaces

Yes

N/A (generic functions, maybe?)

Lib

N/A

Fine grain export control

public, private, etc

static

public, private, etc

specify classes

private section

yes

Inner classes

Yes

Some

Yes

N/A

Some

Yes

Mixins

Yes

Lib

Operator overloading

Yes

Slow

Yes

N/A

Yes

First Class Types/Classes

Some (new class loader)

Yes

Covariant return types

Yes

Yes (v1.5)

Yes

N/A

Generics

Yes

Almost (v2.0)

Almost (v1.5, compile-time only)

Yes

N/A

Active Data Models

Lambda-expression/functor

Yes (C++09)

Yes (v3)

Yes

Yes (blocks)

Yes

Yes (blocks)

Monads

Yes

Lib

Multilevel programming

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Templates or executable macros

Yes

N/A

Yes

Higher Order Functions

Yes

Reflection/Introspection

RTTI

Yes

RTTI

Lib

Yes

Dynamic function creation

Yes

Dynamic inheritance change

Some (new class loader)

Yes

Dynamic class creation

Yes (v2)

Lib

Yes

Dynamic method creation

Yes (v2)

Some (new class loader)

Yes

Dynamic class loading

Yes

Lib

Yes

Dynamic class unloading

Some (new class loader)

Yes

Dynamic method loading

Yes

Dynamic method unloading

Yes

Dynamic structure change (add/rem slots)

Yes

Multiple dispatch

Yes

Performance

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Inline assembler

Yes

Lib

Most

Some

Lib

Direct access to hardware

Yes

Some (JNI)

Yes

Some

Lightweight objects

Yes

Some VMs

Yes

Sort of

Yes

Explicit memory allocation control

Yes

Lib (VM std. interface)

Yes

Lib

Some

Yes

Independent of VM

Yes

Rare (some vendors)

Yes

Most

Some

Direct native code gen

Yes

Some

Yes

Most

First Class Continuations

Some

Yes

Lazy Evaluation

Most

Yes

Lib

Implicit Parallelism/Scheduling

Seq only

Weak seq only

Seq only

Limited

Seq only

Parallel

Seq only

Parallel

Seq only

Reliability

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Design by Contract

Yes

Lib (annotations and classloader, v1.5)

Yes

Yes (Ada 2012)

Yes

Lib (3rd party)

Unit testing

Yes

Lib

Yes

Lib

Yes

Lib

Static construction order

Yes

Guaranteed initialization

Yes

N/A

Yes

RAII

Depr.

Yes

Explicit memory allocation control

Yes

Exception handling (try-catch blocks)

Yes

try-catch-finally blocks

Yes

N/A

Yes

Exception handling (restarts)

Yes

Thread synchronization primitives

Yes

Most

Yes

Lib

Yes

Tail Call Elimination

Yes

Some

Stack Control (Catchable Recursion Exception)

Yes (predictive)

Some

Compatibility with C

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Support all C types

Yes

Some

Lib

Direct access to C

Yes

Some (JNI)

Yes

Most

Some

Lib

Struct member alignment control

Yes

Most

Yes

Some

Generates standard object files

Yes

One

Some

Independent of macro preprocessor

Yes

yes

N/A

Yes

Other

C++

Java

Delphi

Eiffel

Ada

Haskell

Sather

Common Lisp

Smalltalk

Perl

Python

Ruby

Conditional compilation

Yes

Some (mandatory dead code elimination)

Yes

Some

Sort of

N/A

String switches

Yes

perform:

Lib

N/A (no switches, use hashmaps)

Yes

"N/A" means "don't have meaning for this language"

"Sort of" - "partitially implemented"

"One", "Some", "Most" - number of language implementations having this feature

"Lib" - implemented by standard library

Definitions

I tried to pick useful definitions. This goes without saying, but feel free to amend them. --AndyFriesen

I think ALL of 'em must be explained to make sure we have common terms. I've added some ambiguous or unknown to me. --VincentThorn

Don't forget that original of this page was created to praise D, so it still, even after all our modifications, contains strange features that are of interest only for whose seeking even smallest D advantages over C++/C#/Java. --BulatZiganshin

Single inheritance: Ability to inherit attributes (data fields) and methods (functions) from existing class when creating new one. Some languages inherit only methods, this marked as "Sort of"
Multiple inheritance: Ability to inherit attributes and methods from several classes when creating new one. Some languages allow multi-inheritance only for methods, this marked as "Sort of"
Interfaces: Classes limited to declarations of method signatures (parameters/result types). Each class "derived" from such interface must implement all these methods. Not applicable to languages with dynamic typing
Modules: Implicit scopes for every source file. Namespaces do not qualify, as they are evidently somewhat weaker. (though I would argue that they are freeform, not weak) --AndyFriesen
Templates or executable macros: Compile-time parameterization of declarations (which directly affect the code generated) and/or programmable code generation.
Generics: The ability to write algorithms and containers whose subject type is not set in stone. Can be either compile-time or runtime. Generics achieved by use of templates qualify.
Syntax style: C uses curly braces to define compound statements, Pascal - begin/end's, Lisp - Lots of Idiotic Silly Parentheses, and Python/Haskell - just naked spaces
Strong typedefs: ability to devalre new types that are internally equivalent to existing ones but compiler don't allow to use one instead other without explicit cast
Covariant return types: ability to declare return type of of function in subclass with another (more specific) type than was declared in super-class. For example, if class Aimal has function of type Aznimal returning its parent, then class Dog may have this procedure redefined as returning Dog and it's still may be called in virtual way
Multiple dispatch: When a polymorphic function is called, the specific function called is chosen at run-time based on all parameters and their run-time types. Contrast with single dispatch, where the specific function called is based on only one factor, for example, the relevant class object.
Function literals: using functions in expressions, e.g. passing a function with inline code as a parameter to another function
Dynamic closures: ??
LexicalClosures: Ability to create closure that "captures" variables existing at the program line where closure defined
Lightweight arrays: Arrays of basic types that holds only values of these types and don't have overhead, say 1000 int values should occupy 4000 bytes (on 32-bit cpu, i mean)
Lightweight objects: Objects that don't have any hidden data attached, like C structs
Explicit memory allocation control: like new/delete?
Independent of VM: compiled directly to cpu code, not to bytecode interpretd by VM (as in Java/C#)
Direct access to C: ability to link with C modules and use their functions/data. For example, C++ provides this using <extern "C"> declarations
Independent of macro preprocessor: C and C++ languages can't be used without preprocessor which includes files and defines macros. other languages can be used without CPP
Conditional compilation: language feature to conditionally compile parts of program w/o using preprocessor
Fine grain export control: ??

Languages Versus D

Definitions

Related