--- title: Flavours of Reflection — Semantics | daily.dev description: C++26 is introducing compile-time reflection, and this post compares it with reflection capabilities in Python, Java, C#, and Rust using a concrete example:... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Flavours of Reflection — Semantics | daily.dev og:description: C++26 is introducing compile-time reflection, and this post compares it with reflection capabilities in Python, Java, C#, and Rust using a concrete example:... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/B70oldr8Z.png og:image:alt: Flavours of Reflection — Semantics og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Flavours of Reflection — Semantics **[C\+\+](https://daily.dev/sources/isocpp)** · 24 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary C++26 is introducing compile-time reflection, and this post compares it with reflection capabilities in Python, Java, C#, and Rust using a concrete example: implementing a generic object_to_string function. Python uses runtime __dict__ lookups, Java and C# use runtime reflection APIs backed by their runtime environments, and Rust uses procedural macros (which are compile-time code generation but not true reflection). C++26 reflection uses the ^^ operator to enter reflection space, std::meta functions to traverse it, and splicers [:...:] to leave it — all evaluated at compile time, making it a zero-cost abstraction. The key distinction is that C++ reflection evaporates after constant evaluation, producing code equivalent to hand-written specializations, unlike Java/C# where reflection incurs runtime overhead. Rust's procedural macros are limited to token-level transformations without the ability to query type definitions, making them code generation rather than true reflection. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [C\+\+ Reflection: a Universal Printer](https://daily.dev/posts/c-reflection-a-universal-printer-pmscycfou) · C\+\+ · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#c++](https://daily.dev/tags/c++), [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Flavours of Reflection — Semantics","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z"},"datePublished":"2026-03-03T19:00:53.143Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T03:30:46.660Z","description":"C++26 is introducing compile-time reflection, and this post compares it with reflection capabilities in Python, Java, C#, and Rust using a concrete example:...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"C++","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"C++","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/c96d1356acb34a8d982064453dcfeb20","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/isocpp"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/flavours-of-reflection-semantics-b70oldr8z","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"c++,rust","timeRequired":"PT24M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"C++","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/isocpp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Flavours of Reflection — Semantics"}]} ```