btc wrote > btc@ > wrote: > > Kilon, I agree with most of you writeup, except that I think Smalltalk > has types - except the types are not associated with variables, rather > they are associated with objects. This aligns with Igor's comment "in > smalltalk, assignment is not copying value, but changing the reference".
Actually I also mostly agree with Igor point. If I am not mistake we agree on the fact that smalltalk has no types. The only thing I would not agree, if my assumption is correct here, is that Igor appears here implying that smalltalk somehow is special to assign values by reference. If this assumption of mine is correct then I do disagree strongly , its actually a very common practice. Python also implement this, Lisp does, ruby and an array of dynamic type languages. I am not so sure about C and C++ but since they use pointers its a moot point anyway. I explain this concept in my book about python that I have published in blenderwiki , section "Reference" which can be found here -> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Kilon/Python_book_of_magic/05.Dictionaries However this concept is implementation specific and not language specific. Its obviously a massive diffirence because a coder rarely worries about the implementation itself the same way a user of an OS does not worry how and why an OS does the things it does, he only care about what it does. Also I am not sure how that prove the existence of types, for me it does not, it only describes how values are assigned. What prevents you from assigning by reference typeless data ? Unless once again we talk about how pharo itself implement this and somehow uses its own internal type system. The question that remain why I the coder should care about this , if at language level Smalltalk is typeless. Maybe Igor can clarify this more to make a more clear picture what happens at implementation level. But at language level yes I have seen nothing that proves the existence of types inside Smalltalk unless we treat types in a very vague kind way which for me it just defeats their purpose. I also agree on the remark of Duck Typing , it definitely smells like smalltalk , but once again the terminology is failed because it implies a type system. Once more I have to stress the importance of dichotomy between language specification and language implementation. Types obviously touch both areas but not necessarily for same reasons. -- View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/Smalltalk-strongly-typed-tp4701894p4702028.html Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
