On 12/7/00 1:23 PM, "Jose Alberto Fernandez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> This was the same line of reasoning when FORTRAN was defined. Why force
> users to declare variables, if it starts with an "i" or "j" is integer, if
> it starts with a .... is real.
> Why have reserved words, if it is in the location where a reserved word is
> expected then it is, otherwise it is just an identifier.
>
> The result is unmaintainable code.
>
> If something Java demonstrates id that strong typing is GOOD.
I'd agree with you totally if the buildfile syntax were meant to be a
general purpose language such as Fortran or Java. But it's not. And, it's
been shown quite successfully that scripting languages that have looser
typing are valid in cases where the scripts are small.
Given that, I don't think that arguments based on general purpose
programming languages are necessarily valid...
In the general sense, I do agree that strong typing is important. Heck, the
internal object model in AntEater is strongly typed rather than a loosely
typed collection of Nodes for exactly that reason.
.duncan
--
James Duncan Davidson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
!try; do()
