Has Java a feature that c++ hasn�t?

[Jose Botella]

Dynamically extension of a Java program : Use of Class.forName(String) and classloader.loadClass(String) for loading types not mentioned in the source code.
I think the ability to dynamically extend a running program allows java to do things that can not be done with c++ :
The applet runner within a browser can load and link to a type that is not mention in the code of the java applet runner. Is there any application like that written in c++?
An application server can load and run new versions of a java program while executing the older one in another class loader. In this way it updates java programs without having to shut down the server. Is there any application server written in c++?
Is it true?

[Roseanne Zhang]

Read Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup's FAQ
It will be a good reading and learning experience!

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Thanks!
Roseanne
Join our Study Group when certified

[Jose Botella]

Roseanne thank you for answering.
I read the FAQ, but it didn�t respond to my question.
Maybe you could post a simple yes or not, unless it is a question with no such kind of anwser. You know, I wouldn�t like to have to post this question to a c++ group. Maybe I could receive hostile posts.
By the way I will be rejoinig the SCJP group as soon as I have finised my second reading of Thinking in Java. I had to leave the group some time ago to study more.

[Roseanne Zhang]

Sorry! No, I was not answering your question. I was just trying to let you see the other side of the opinion. Put something in its own environment.
I wrote some simple reflection in C++ long time ago, which, of course, cannot compete with the Java one. Another important thing to know is that C++ does not have a Class class, that is one of the fundamental difference between SmallTalk/Java and C++. Read Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup's FAQ or the Prototype pattern in GoF's book, they might help too.
Thanks!
Roseanne

[This message has been edited by Roseanne Zhang (edited August 12, 2001).]

[Jim Baiter]

No, you're right, there is no supertype in C++ that every class descends from like Object in Java. There are architectures used in C++ such as CORBA & COM where all classes participating in the architecture descend from some supertype but these are external to C++ itself.

[Sajid Raza]

An equivalent of dynamic class loading in the C++ world would be linking/loading DLLs at runtime. But, that's more an OS feature rather than a C++ specific feature.

[Jose Botella]

Thanks for replying you all.
Sajid Raza, I guess the key is whether the names of the libraries to load can be whithin strings in the source code or retrieved fron the net as it happens with the names of Applets, or they must be "hard coded" like "Type variable = new Type();"
I don�t know C++ that is why I am asking.