language-features

I have written a little bit of C , and I can read it well enough to get a general idea of what it is doing, but every time I have encountered a macro it has thrown me completely. I end up having to remember what the macro is and substitute it in my head as I read. The ones that I have encountered that were intuitive and easy to understand were always like little mini functions, so I always wondered why they weren't just functions. I can understand the need to define different build types for debug or cross platform builds in the preprocessor but the ability to define arbitrary substitutions

Does anyone know if it possible to define the equivalent of a "java custom class loader" in .NET? To give a little background: I am in the process of developing a new programming language that targets the CLR, called "Liberty". One of the features of the language is its ability to define "type constructors", which are methods that are executed by the compiler at compile time and generate types as output. They are sort of a generalization of generics (the language does have normal generics in it), and allow code like this to be written (in "Liberty" syntax): var t as tuple<i as int, j as int, k

The Null propagating operator / Conditional access expression coming in c#-6.0 looks like quite a handy feature. But I'm curious if it will help solve the problem of checking if a child member is not null and then calling a Boolean method on said child member inside an if block: public class Container<int>{ IEnumerable<int> Objects {get;set;} } public Container BuildContainer() { var c = new Container(); if (/* Some Random Condition */) c.Objects = new List<int>{1,2,4}; } public void Test() { var c = BuildContainer(); //Old way if ( null != c && null != c.Objects && c.Objects.Any()) Console

Is there a VB.NET equivalent to the C#: public string FirstName { get; set; } I know you can do Public Property name() As String Get Return _name.ToString End Get Set(ByVal value As String) _name = value End Set End Property But I can't seem to google up an answer on a Visual Basic shorthand. Stefan There is no shorthand for Visual Studio 2008 or prior for VB.NET. In Visual Studio 2010 and beyond, you can use the following shorthand: public property FirstName as String This will be handled as your short version in C# is - I think they call it "Auto Property" See also: Auto-Implemented

Can someone tell me when and where I need to use begin and end blocks in SQL Server? Also, what exactly does the Go keyword do? MatBailie GO is like the end of a script. You could have multiple CREATE TABLE statements, separated by GO. It's a way of isolating one part of the script from another, but submitting it all in one block. BEGIN and END are just like { and } in C/++/#, Java, etc. They bound a logical block of code. I tend to use BEGIN and END at the start and end of a stored procedure, but it's not strictly necessary there. Where it IS necessary is for loops, and IF statements, etc,

Python's inner/nested classes confuse me. Is there something that can't be accomplished without them? If so, what is that thing? Aziz Quoted from http://www.geekinterview.com/question_details/64739 : Advantages of inner class: Logical grouping of classes : If a class is useful to only one other class then it is logical to embed it in that class and keep the two together. Nesting such "helper classes" makes their package more streamlined. Increased encapsulation : Consider two top-level classes A and B where B needs access to members of A that would otherwise be declared private. By hiding