Why Templates?

[Walter Bright]

"Ivan Senji" <ivan.senji_REMOVE_ at _THIS__gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:duf72h$f40$1 at digitaldaemon.com...
> Maybe so, but I see a common Object base class a hack to solve many 
> problems that are simple and efficient to solve with templates. For 
> example containers. Containers in Java(before templates)-style and 
> C#(before templates)-style are nothing but inefficient hacks.

Technically, Java and C# implement generics, not templates. C++ and D 
implement templates, not generics.

What's the difference? One way to think about it is generics are handled at 
run time (by casting), templates at compile time.