Re: Static vs. Dynamic typing (big advantage or not)---WAS: c.programming: OOP and memory management

From: Jeff Brooks (jeff_brooks_at_nospam.com)
Date: 08/19/04 

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 05:15:53 GMT

Kelly Hall wrote:

> Jeff Brooks wrote:
>
>> The problem is static type checking is a very weak form of testing.
>
> That's because most programming languages have very weak type systems. I
> strongly advocate beefier type systems.

So you assume that most people make type errors? I think you actually
mean "i strongly advocate beefier static checking".

> > The
>
>> additional overhead that most static type languages require from the
>> programmer slows down development.
>
> Yes. But I almost never complain about the time it takes me to take my
> code from the editor to a clean compile (ie, remove type errors and type
> warnings). On the contrary: I find the time I spend removing compiler
> warnings to generally pay off compared to finding bugs at run time.

Most warnings are not related to type checking.

>> It takes more time before I can run unit tests which provides superior
>> testing.
>
> As long as you're willing to write every test case you care about - no
> wonder you want to spend less time in the editor :) As a formal methods
> guy, I'd much rather write one proof and ignore a whole class of test
> cases. Ideally, my compiler would do most of the proofs for me. But
> we're not there yet - more's the pity.

You still have to test the logic. If you test the logic you also test
the majority of the type usage in a dynamic language.

Jeff Brooks

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