Re: Static/Dynamic typing, lessons from the field

André Thieme wrote: 
But what does static typing have to do with Javas non-existing support
for the points he mentioned (operator overloading, mult. inh., etc.)?
The Java designers did intentionally *not* putting them into the
language. From Suns point of view that might be a good thing cause Java
is now pretty much the most popular programming language.
The author got that point plain wrong.

True. ML already existed in 1984, so there's no real excuse for designing a statically typed language in '90+ without generics. They simply didn't *want* it. Operator overloading is only syntax, so it's arguable if it's needed (but with Java's crappy syntax I'd say yes). The throwing-in-one-bowl of interfaces and inheritance (with classes) is unfortunate and could have been avoided with OCaml-style "inherit" clauses.

Later he says: "Dynamic languages give you more expressive power and
more design options;" but does not explain this point. It sounds like
an opinion and therefor is not much more worth than the opinion "Static
languages give you more expressive power and more design options;".
And I personally would like to know what a static language or a dynamic
language is. Probably he wanted to say "statically typed language".
Making this kind of mistake tells me that he is probably not an expert
on this issue, and so I should not take his conclusions too serious.

Yes, I wouldn't say that Lisp advantage is in having no static typing. It's in making it convenient to do symbolic programming, which makes macros easy and possible.

--
Suffering from Gates-induced brain leakage...
.

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