a vs a:link, What is the difference?

Question

What is the differences between a {...} and a:link{...}?

Are there different usages, and benefits between them?

Answer 1

a:link only affects links that have a href attribute basically (if a:visited, a:hover or a:active does not apply)... The main case where I've noticed a difference is that a:link doesn't affect Named Anchors whereas a will. Also, a is the default style if none of the other pseudo classes are defiend.

Section 1