From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public From: Bill Gooch Subject: Re: Static vs. Dynamic typing again (was Re: OO, C++, and something much better!) Date: 1997/01/23 Message-ID: <32E7AF37.318A@iconcomp.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 211774198 references: <32DF458F.4D5C@concentric.net> <32DF94DC.6FF8@watson.ibm.com> <32DFD972.37E4@concentric.net> <32E4FC5B.242C@watson.ibm.com> <32E6862D.608B@parcplace.com> <32E764D0.23D9@calfp.com> x-rtcode: 5467d4e932fd1244bae7ac1d content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: Icon Computing mime-version: 1.0 reply-to: bill@iconcomp.com newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.ada,comp.object x-mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (WinNT; I) Date: 1997-01-23T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Richie Bielak wrote: > > The short answer to you comment is: > > "Testing only proves existence of errors, not their absence" > > but static typing _proves_ absence of certain kinds of errors. No, it does not. In Java, for example, it is quite easy to fool the compiler by casting to Object and back to . Obviously this isn't intentional, but it will happen in the midst of attempts to regain some of the flexibility that static typing has taken away. The ensuing *runtime* exception isn't exactly the same as a "messageNotUnderstood" in Smalltalk (it's a casting error), but the effect is just the same. -- William D. Gooch bill@iconcomp.com Icon Computing http://www.iconcomp.com Texas liaison for the International Programmers Guild For IPG info, see http://www.ipgnet.com/ipghome.htm