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

Please note that the left rows - 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 D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Static typing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional (Lib) No No No No   Dynamic typing/polymorphism   No Polymorphic           Polymorphic   Dynamic Dynamic   Dynamic Dynamic   Garbage Collection Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Unspec Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Strong typedefs Yes No No No No Yes   Yes Yes Yes N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A   Aliases Yes Yes Yes Yes For Objects Only Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Yes Yes Yes   Constants Yes No Yes Yes For Non-Objects? Only Yes       Yes             Value types D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Typed Enumeration/Boolean Yes Yes (booleans) Yes Yes Yes (v1.5) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Keywords Lib     Yes (booleans)   Long double floating point (80bit) Yes Yes Yes Lib No Yes   Yes Yes No Most Most   Yes (no single precision floats)     Complex and Imaginary Yes Yes Lib (std.) Lib No No   Yes Std. Lib. Yes Yes Most Lib Yes Lib   Rational   No No   Lib       Std Lib Yes Yes Yes Lib No Lib   Arbitrary Precision Arithmetic   No No   Lib (std.)       Yes Int Yes Yes   Stdlib     String Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Regular Expression Lib Lib Lib Lib Lib (std., v1.5) Lib Lib Lib Std. Lib. Lib Lib Lib Yes Lib Yes   Arrays D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Lightweight array Yes Yes Yes No No Yes   Yes Lib No Yes Yes No Lib No   Array bounds checking Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Resizable array / Vector Yes No Lib (std.) Yes (v2) Yes (v1.6) Yes Yes No Lib Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Array slicing Yes No No No Lib (std.) Yes Yes Yes Lib No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Array of bits / Finite set Yes No Yes No Lib (std.) Yes Yes Yes Lib   Yes Yes Lib No No   Other Data Models D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   List   Lib Lib Lib Lib Lib Lib Lib Yes Lib Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Hash Yes No Lib (std.) Lib Yes (Object), Lib (std. Map) No Lib Lib Lib Lib Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Abstract collection   No No No Yes (v1.6) Yes (TCollection)                     Functions D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Function delegates Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No   Yes Yes Yes Yes   Function overloading Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No   Out function parameters Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes N/A Yes Yes No Yes No No   Nested functions Yes No No No Sort of (local inner classes) Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes   Function literals Yes No No Yes (v2) Sort of (anon. inner classes) No Yes No Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Dynamic closures Yes No No No No Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   LexicalClosures No No No Yes (v2) Limited (anon. inner classes) No   No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Currying (unclear, is this currying or partial application?) Lib No No No No   Yes   Yes   Lib     Yes     Non-class functions Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   OOP D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Modules/Namespaces Yes No Namespaces Yes Packages Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Some Yes Yes N/S   Single Inheritance Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Sort of Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Multiple Inheritance No No Yes No No No Yes Some Sort of Yes Yes Some Yes Yes Sort of   Interfaces Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A (generic functions, maybe?) Lib Lib No N/A   Fine grain export control public, private, etc static public, private, etc public, private, etc public, private, etc public, private, etc specify classes   yes     No   No     Inner classes Yes No Some No Yes No No Yes N/A   Some Some No Yes Yes   Mixins                   Yes Yes Lib         Operator overloading Yes No Yes Yes No Slow Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes Yes Yes Yes   First Class Types/Classes   No No Some (new class loader) No No No No     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Covariant return types Yes No Yes No Yes (v1.5) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A   Generics Yes No Yes Almost (v2.0) Almost (v1.5, compile-time only) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A N/A   Active Data Models                                 Lambda-expression/functor   No Yes (C++09) Yes (v3) No No No No Yes   Yes Yes (blocks)   Yes Yes (blocks)   Monads No No No No No No No No Yes   Lib           Multilevel programming D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Templates or executable macros Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A N/A N/A Yes   Higher Order Functions   No No           Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Reflection/Introspection RTTI No RTTI Yes Yes RTTI No No Lib   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Dynamic function creation   No No               Yes Yes         Dynamic inheritance change   No No   Some (new class loader)           Yes Yes         Dynamic class creation   No No Yes (v2) Lib           Yes Yes Yes       Dynamic method creation   No No Yes (v2) Some (new class loader)           Yes Yes         Dynamic class loading No No No Yes Yes Yes   No Lib No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Dynamic class unloading   No No   Some (new class loader)           Yes Yes         Dynamic method loading   No No   No           Yes Yes         Dynamic method unloading   No No   No           Yes Yes         Dynamic structure change (add/rem slots)   No No   No           Yes Yes         Multiple dispatch No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No   Performance D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Inline assembler Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Lib No Most Some Lib No No   Direct access to hardware Yes Yes Yes No Some (JNI) Yes   Yes Yes No Some Some No No No   Lightweight objects Yes Yes Yes Yes Some VMs Yes   Yes Yes No Sort of Yes No No No   Explicit memory allocation control Yes Yes Yes No Lib (VM std. interface) Yes   Yes Lib No Some No No No Yes   Independent of VM Yes Yes Yes No Rare (some vendors) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Most Some No No No   Direct native code gen Yes Yes Yes No Some Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Most Most No No No   First Class Continuations                     Some Some     Yes   Lazy Evaluation   Most Most     Yes     Yes     Lib         Implicit Parallelism/Scheduling Seq only Weak seq only Seq only Seq only Limited Seq only Seq only Seq only Parallel Seq only Parallel Seq only Seq only Seq only Seq only   Reliability D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Design by Contract Yes No No No Lib (annotations and classloader, v1.5) No Yes   No Yes Lib (3rd party) No No No No   Unit testing Yes No Lib No Lib Lib   No Lib   Yes Yes Lib Yes Lib   Static construction order Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes         Yes Yes       Guaranteed initialization Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes     RAII Yes No Yes Yes No Yes   Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes     Explicit memory allocation control Yes Yes Yes No No Yes   Yes No   No No No No Yes   Exception handling (try-catch blocks) Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   try-catch-finally blocks Yes No N/A Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Exception handling (restarts)   No No   No           Yes           Thread synchronization primitives Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Most Yes Lib Yes Yes   Tail Call Elimination                 Yes No Some Some         Stack Control (Catchable Recursion Exception)                 Yes (predictive)   Some Some         Compatibility with C D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Support all C types Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Some Some No Lib No   Direct access to C Yes Yes Yes Some (JNI) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Most Some Lib Lib No   Struct member alignment control Yes Most No No No Yes No Yes No No No Some No No No   Generates standard object files Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No One Some No No No   Independent of macro preprocessor Yes No No Yes Yes Yes yes N/A Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Other D C C++ C# Java Delphi Eiffel Ada Haskell Sather Common Lisp Smalltalk Perl Python Ruby   Conditional compilation Yes Yes Yes Yes Some (mandatory dead code elimination) Yes Yes No Yes   Yes Some Sort of N/A N/A   String switches Yes No No Yes No No Yes No Yes No 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 which 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

??

Related

• Benchmarks
• Why switch to D
• Learning D as a second language
• Language Specification
• Seeking help using D
• Development with D