[
Lists Home |
Date Index |
Thread Index
]
Jonathan,
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Robie
>
> I always thought that catching errors at compile time optimized both
> programmer efficiency and machine efficiency.
>
> It optimizes machine efficiency because the query doesn't
> have to look at
> all that data to know that there's an error. It optimizes
> programmer time
> because the programmer does not need to go out and write a
> million test
> cases, deal with the calls from the field from someone whose
> data looks
> different from the test data, etc.
I don't for a moment dispute the usefulness of types, just /static/
typing. Static typing as aid to programmer effectiveness is something of
a myth, tho' it's very handy if you're a compiler or a runtime. Systems
do get build with dynamically typed languages and seem to work fine;
notably these languages are notoriously productive. If I'm wrong about
this, that static typing vastly improves the lot of programmers, I'm
happy to be corrected.
Bill de hÓra
|
