[M3devel] static typing [WAS: JIT, WAS: Google Benchmark - anyone interested in an Modula 3 version?]

[Henning Thielemann]

On 10.07.2011 15:32, Rodney M. Bates wrote:

> 1) Dynamic typing is seldom either needed or used.
>
> The majority of variables (1) in sensible programs are what I call
> _algorithmically statically typed_. By this, I mean, informally, that
> there is a natural type for the variable that can be inferred from its
> assignments and uses. Moreover, this is a static property, i.e.,
> independent of the program's inputs, and thus can be inferred from the
> code alone.

By the way, I remember the HiSoft Basic compiler on ZX spectrum that 
allowed you to run BASIC programs in a test mode, where the types of the 
variables were determined. In a sense (ZX Spectrum) BASIC is statically 
typed, since names of string variables must end with '$' and all 
alphanumeric variable names denote floating point numbers. The HiSoft 
Basic compiler had a richer set of numeric types: signed and unsigned 
8-bit and 16-bit numbers and floating point numbers. In the test run the 
compiler determined for every variable the most restrictive type that 
covers all numbers seen during the program execution.