weakly typed or strongly typed language

Question

If a program is not completely statically compiled then is it weakly typed or strongly typed

If a phrase ends without a question mark, then is it a question or not? — akappa, Mar 27 '11 at 06:05
also see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/430182/is-c-strongly-typed — jcomeau_ictx, Mar 27 '11 at 07:22

jcomeau_ictx · Answer 1 · 2011-03-27T06:10:59.670

1

Apples and oranges. Assembly language programs are statically compiled, but you can use any variable as a character, as an integer, as part of a float, or as part of a JPEG image. Typing is separate from any concepts about compilation or interpretation.

Now that I think about it, I can't think of an interpreted language offhand that isn't strongly typed, but that still doesn't mean there's any connection.

Thought of one. Brainf*ck. It's interpreted and has no concept of types at all.

edited Mar 27 '11 at 06:10

answered Mar 27 '11 at 06:03

jcomeau_ictx

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Does C count as weakly typed in your book? 'Cos there are interpreters for that :-) – regularfry Mar 27 '11 at 07:14
I'm tempted to say weakly typed, but I've consumed far too much merlot to be answering questions on SO tonight. so goodnight :^) – jcomeau_ictx Mar 27 '11 at 07:21

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

A language is strongly typed if it contains compile-time checks for type constraint violations. If checking is deferred to run time, it is weakly typed.

Have a look at this link :

Strongly Typed ?

Also, you don't want to miss this discussion by Bill Venners with Frank Sommers

Strong versus Weak Typing

Some more good reads.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '11 at 06:15

Don't confuse the distinction between strong and weak typing with the distinction between static and dynamic typing. And none of these is the same as dynamic compilation, dynamic linking, dynamic loading, or dynamic dispatch.

As usual, Wikipedia offers a pretty good starting point.

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 19 '12 at 18:33

"A language is strongly typed if it contains compile-time checks for type constraint violations. If checking is deferred to run time, it is weakly typed."

Not exactly. What you're describing here is more relevant to the difference between dynamic and static typing.

A language is strongly typed if it prevents the success for operations on arguments which have the wrong type. Now this could happen either at compile type or run time.

weakly typed or strongly typed language

4 Answers4