Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

nikosv — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:34:44 GMT

the "Weakly Typed Languages" article at

www.i-programmer.info/programming/theory/1469-type-systems-demystified-part2-weak-vs-strong.html?start=1

and the "Strong Typing" one at

www.i-programmer.info/programming/theory/1515-strong-typing.html

(parts of the "Type Systems Demystified" series at

www.i-programmer.info/programming/theory/604-type-systems-demystified.html)

attempt to explain the differences between weak and strong typing by comparing the type systems of Perl,C# and VB.NET and how C#'s dynamic type changes the game (especially in the "C# Perl-like behavior?" section). Although very educational (I hope),the point of the articles is to show that in the end "These terms are meaningless and you should avoid them" as you have already pointed out

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

default_ex — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:25:34 GMT

It's hard to call C# strongly typed when you can do things like the following:

uint i = unchecked((uint)-1);

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)] struct SomeStruct

{

[FieldOffset(0)] float SomeFloat;

[FieldOffset(0)] byte SomeByte;

}

ulong SomeFunc(ulong i)

{

fixed (ulong* p = i) return (ulong)Interlocked.Read(*(long*)p); // there is no ulong overload for this

}

Among many other techniques to read data as a type that it clearly is not.

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

JP — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:30:19 GMT

Eric;

Was wondering what your thoughts were on this article?

steve-yegge.blogspot.com/.../execution-in-kingdom-of-nouns.html

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Louis.fr — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:07:53 GMT

@Jimmy: In C#, 5 + "foo" does not imply a conversion to string. The operator+(object,string) is invoked. When compiled, you'll get a call to string.Concat(object,object). Still no conversion to string. In either case (operator+ or string.Concat), the arguments don't need to be converted to string.

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Rudra Bhattacharya — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 08:30:04 GMT

Excellent post,Nice and subtle approach to define what makes C# strongly typed

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 21:45:34 GMT

c# i think is a weakly typed language i.e it will find some loophole to do some implicit type conversion for nearly matching types' input arguments.

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Starnick — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:30:37 GMT

Interesting read. At the end I was imagining Eric as Obi-wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi", when he was talking about it depends on your point of view regarding Darth Vader.

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

RaceProUK — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:15:36 GMT

@Jimmy: In C#, 5 + "foo" is (effective) shorthand for String.Format("{0}foo", 5), or maybe String.Format("{0}{1}, 5, "foo"). Either way, it's not actually an overload on +.

</pedant> ;)

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Douglas — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:32:47 GMT

@Jeff Lewis: A car *is* inherently unsafe!

When you take a ton of steel, add in a dozen gallons of highly combustible liquid, then intentionally detonate that liquid thousands of time per minute to propel the vehicle to high speeds, what you get is definitely unsafe.

re: Is C# a strongly typed or a weakly typed language?

Hirendra Sisodiya — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:54:59 GMT

what the means of type verification and type system here?