C#

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sbh15dya.aspx[^]

Key differences between generics and C++ templates:

• Generics are generic until the types are substituted for them at runtime. Templates are specialized at compile time so they are not still parameterized types at runtime
• The common language runtime specifically supports generics in MSIL. Because the runtime knows about generics, specific types can be substituted for generic types when referencing an assembly containing a generic type. Templates, in contrast, resolve into ordinary types at compile time and the resulting types may not be specialized in other assemblies.
• Generics specialized in two different assemblies with the same type arguments are the same type. Templates specialized in two different assemblies with the same type arguments are considered by the runtime to be different types.
• Generics are generated as a single piece of executable code which is used for all reference type arguments (this is not true for value types, which have a unique implementation per value type). The JIT compiler knows about generics and is able to optimize the code for the reference or value types that are used as type arguments. Templates generate separate runtime code for each specialization.
• Generics do not allow non-type template parameters, such as template <int i> C {}. Templates allow them.
• Generics do not allow explicit specialization (that is, a custom implementation of a template for a specific type). Templates do.
• Generics do not allow partial specialization (a custom implementation for a subset of the type arguments). Templates do.
• Generics do not allow the type parameter to be used as the base class for the generic type. Templates do.
• Templates support template-template parameters (e.g. template<template<class T> class X> class MyClass), but generics do not.

vkEE wrote:

any ideas?

Member 7680434 wrote:

xmlNode.OuterXml.Trim();

Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

public static int Compare(string first, string second)
    {
        if (object.ReferenceEquals(first, second))
            return 0;
        if (object.ReferenceEquals(null, first)) // second cannot be null
            return -1;
        // neither string can be null
        char[] digits = new char[] { '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8','9' };
        int firstDigitIndex = first.IndexOfAny(digits);
        int secondDigitIndex = second.IndexOfAny(digits);
        string firstLhs = firstDigitIndex == -1 ? first : first.Substring(0, firstDigitIndex);
        string secondLhs = secondDigitIndex == -1 ? second : second.Substring(0, firstDigitIndex);
        int result = firstLhs.CompareTo(secondLhs);
        if (result == 0)
        {
            // left hand sides are equal so sort on numeric part
            int firstInteger = 0;
            int secondInteger = 0;
            if (firstDigitIndex > -1)
                int.TryParse(first.Substring(firstDigitIndex), out firstInteger);
            if (secondDigitIndex > -1)
                int.TryParse(second.Substring(secondDigitIndex), out secondInteger);
            result = firstInteger.CompareTo(secondInteger);
        }
        return result;
    }

SortAndWriteList(new List<string>(new string[] { "ABC 1", "ABC 10", "ABC 2", "ABC 100" }));
Console.WriteLine();
SortAndWriteList(new List<string>(new string[] { "ADBCDEF - 1", "ADBCDEF - 10", "ADBCDEF - 3" }));
Console.WriteLine();
Console.ReadKey();

private static void SortAndWriteList(List<string> list)
{
    if (list != null)
    {
        list.Sort(new Comparison<string>(Compare));
        foreach (string item in list)
            Console.WriteLine(item);
    }
}

ABC 1
ABC 2
ABC 10
ABC 100

ADBCDEF - 1
ADBCDEF - 3
ADBCDEF - 10

public class LogicalStringComparer : IComparer<string>
{
    [DllImport("shlwapi.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling=true, SetLastError=true)]
    private static extern int StrCmpLogicalW(string x, string y);
    
    public int Compare(string x, string y)
    {
        return StrCmpLogicalW(x, y);
    }
}