To put it slightly differently: there is currently no static typing 
system that you do not have to give 'hints' (using typecasts) since you 
know better than the system what is going on. That is what happens when 
you put stuff in some Java or C++ array and want to get it out in a 
usable form: you hardcode in the type that you know that stuff of type 
Z gets out, because you know what you put in...

So I would love to have a static type system that does not allow you to 
put these' hints', but that is a difficult dream to realize. Most 
mathematicians working in this area only consider object-oriented 
languages where you have no polymorphism :-)

Oh, and yes you were right: Smalltalk is strongly typed, like most 
other languages, but not statically typed.

On Monday, March 10, 2003, at 05:30 PM, Jarvis, Robert P. (Contingent) 
wrote:

>> From: Daniel Joyce [mailto:daniel.a.joyce at worldnet.att.net]
>> 	You want strong typing? Look at the problems it causes
>> JAVA wrt to
>> Collection classes, and the LOVELY solution that JAVA came up
>> with for
>> 1.5.
>>
>> 	I'm starting to think that all strongly typed OOP
>> languages eventually
>> end up looking like C++, as more 'features' ( hacks ) are
>> used to work
>> around the 'benefits' (bugs) of static typing....
>>
>> 	"Strong Typing" is good...
>> 	"garbage collection" is slow... ( compared to tracking
>> down memory
>> leaks? )
>>
>> 	These dead horses get beatten alot.
>
>
> I suggest that we not confuse "strong typing" with "static typing".
> Smalltalk is not statically typed, but it is strongly typed.  Java and 
> C++
> (to the best of my knowledge) are both strongly and statically typed.
>
> In my opinion
>
> 	"Strong typing" is good,
> 	"Static typing" is bad,
> 	"Garbage collection" is good
>
> for the types of work I usually do.  Your mileage may vary.
>
> Bob Jarvis
> Compuware @ Timken
>
>
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Roel Wuyts                                                   Software 
Composition Group
roel.wuyts at iam.unibe.ch                       University of Bern, 
Switzerland
http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~wuyts/
Board Member of the European Smalltalk User Group: www.esug.org