Strong Typing pros(?)
Like many others, I've been
thinking about strong typing lately. I've realized that most of my programming in life has been done in strongly typed langages, and only a small percent in weak. That got me thinking... am I really in a position to think that I'm more productive unless I've tried an alternative?
So I'll be trying some Ruby this week, but I don't know if I'll be a convert; I've never really felt constrained by strong typing. Can anyone out there point me to concrete examples of ways in which strong typing limits productivity?
I think that for me, one of the biggest benefits of strong typing isn't in compiler errors or intellisense... it's in the design needed. It forces me to think before I code so that the correct interfaces and base classes are designed. While some may think that that's limiting, I like to have to design a bit before typing away. Without any constraints, I'm afraid I'd be much too lazy to do any design at all, especially for small projects or one-off tools.