Re: Strong Typing, Dynamic Languages, What to do?

[Matthias Felleisen <matthias@ccs.neu.edu>]

  > there is no way to make cast-free C++ a safe language w/o changing the
  > language radically.

  I think you are mistaken, but I don't think it's a good idea.  There
  are much better safe languages out there that are designed to be safe.
  Scheme, for instance.  I think VisualAge for C++ is a type-safe
  implementation, even with casts, but they are not very popular.

Scheme? Who do think I am? But seriously, there is no type safe version of
C++ that has anything to do with the language description.

  > Here is what I mean:
  > 1. I need a decision algorithm for C++ standard programs 

  To determine what about them?  Whether or not they are correctly
  typed?

To determine whether or not they satisfy the ANSI standard. Ditto for C
programs. 

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Please, for everyone: a type safe language is a language in which ALL
programs are type safe, not just those that the super-ueber-hackers 
among you write. If we don't even agree on that definition, we can't
discuss this here. This scheme list is a discussion list, not a debate
forum. 

-- Matthias