Why Do Different Programming Languages Have Conflicting Features?

You raise a valid point about clarity versus complexity; languages that allow for concise code can sometimes make it hard to read. Take Go, for example—its designers consciously opted out of features like inheritance and true polymorphism because they felt those led to more issues than they resolved. So, that's a case where avoiding a feature was a deliberate design choice to favor simplicity.

Conflicting priorities pop up quite often. A classic example is between speed and runtime checks. You want your app to run fast, but if you're doing runtime checks all the time, that slows things down. That’s why in many languages, you have the option to use assertions during development that can be disabled later on for performance reasons. You can’t really have both in full force at the same time!

You hit the nail on the head regarding the variety among programming languages! Just look at the challenges with null references. Some languages, to avoid null pointer exceptions, implement option types for better safety, even though that adds some cognitive overhead for the developer. Similarly, purely functional languages, like Haskell, have to work around side effects, often resorting to specialized techniques like monads to make I/O work without straying from their purity. These design choices reflect very different philosophies on what a language should do and how it should behave.

Actually, not every language just builds on the same toolbox. Languages are shaped by what features they prioritize, often leaving essential functionalities in the hands of external developers. For instance, if you're looking at Python, you won't find certain features in the standard package—it often relies on independent contributions for added functionality. So while it's true that theoretically any Turing-complete language can do anything, that’s de facto if you consider all limitations.

I’d argue we’re seeing this conflict play out in languages that manage memory differently. For example, if super high performance is key (like in gaming), you often lean toward C++ which relies on manual memory management instead of garbage collection that you'd find in Java or Python. That’s a trade-off many developers have to make.