Are 'can you write a Foo app in Bar language' questions acceptable?

Question

Throughout my stint on SO, I've seen multiple instances of questions such as these, which pop up every once in a while. The "Can I write Foo kind of app only in Bar kind of (incompatible) language." These questions and their ilk seem to be a little too subjective for my liking, seeing as ultimately the answer is always Yes (given an infinite amount of programmers at an infinite amount of computers enough time, and all langs are compatible...), but a Yes which often leads to poorly written, (frequently) poorly translated applications. Should such questions be closed, or allowed to stay for entertainment value?

(In the interest of full disclosure, I do have skin in the game).

Answer 1

Note that the op isn't exactly asking "Can you write a foo app in bar language"; what he's really asking is a more nuanced question: "Can I write a foo app in bar language without using the enhancements available in the superset bar+ language?" In other words, does bar have enough capability in the target environment to stand on its own?

The instinct for some people is to answer Yes <!-- padding so that I have 30 characters --> to these kinds of "yes or no" questions, but that kind of answer is neither instructive nor illuminating, but merely amusing to some and irritating to others.

I'd say that (aside from the fact that it is a duplicate) the question has obvious educational value, beyond the glib answer of yes or no. The duplicate and other similar questions, like this one, have answers that demonstrate that such questions can most definitely be constructive and educational.

Answer 2

These are not real questions. By some pretty basic theorems, the correct answer is almost always a useless 'yes'. This doesn't help the OP or anyone else. Nothing can help the OP, because the OP has not stated a real, practical, problem.