You caught me again, i really have to be more precise in what i am trying to say.... maybe i'll blame it on the fact, that i mostly communicate in other languages then english...:-)....

I meant to say is that what i like about perl, that you can have it all: that's it is really "multi-paradigm". You can have dynamic dispatch, dynamic code loading and introspection for free, when you need it and granted you know how to do it ... {smile}. I do not see these features as tricks, granted the user is aware of the consequences and trade-offs of using them, i see them as strenght of the language. If you don't really need them, then you'll be more specific and leave them away. And that's where i was wondering about other languages, like i know a little C++: There certainly you have type safety, you have type-safe dynamic dispatch, more general dynamic dispatch aka Smalltalk? Quite a coding effort!? I think Coplien did some work on that...? Dynamic loading and selection of classes at runtime? Not impossible but, quite a effort!? And that's where i was thinking, how do the languages, Perl, C++, maybe also Java and some other scripting languages, compare with regard to supporting these features, to what extent, what does it mean in terms off effort to achieve these features, how would one achieve these features, what are trade-offs and maybe also the rationale behind how these features are supported or not.....? Does this make any sense?.... Maybe i am just hopelessly behind, and these things have been answered with things like "component" technology etc? But i tend to like to keep things small and simple.....