Subject: Re: type safety in LISP From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 08 Dec 2002 23:55:07 +0000 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3248380507894342@naggum.no> * Chris Gehlker | [Type safety is] a big issue in the sense that it's very controversial. Really? There is no controversy over type safety that I know of. There is great controversy over how to implement it, however. This is not unlike the political scene, where /nobody/ argues that each individual should be left entirely alone to fend for himself. The many different ways political groups argue for the implementation of safety measures and carefully balancing them against freedoms and human rights should not be interpreted to mean that those who do not agree with any particular measures to implement safety and social and national security are fighting against safety and social and national security. You would have to be astonishingly ignorant of history, human nature, and politics to believe that core human needs are controversial because their means of implementation is. So, too, with type safety in programming languages. /Nobody/ wants programming languages that only ship bits around. /Everybody/ is in full agreement with everybody else that even though processors ship machine words around in general-purpose registers and memory cells that can hold any machine word, it is considered imprudent to design programming languages that do not retain type information in some form and ensure that a machine word that represents a value of one type is not confused with another. Controversial this is not. | There are many very smart people who think it sucks. Can you name one person who thinks type safety sucks who is not also a complete moron with zero understanding of what it means? If /you/ confuse type safety with explicit, static typing, that is your problem and you should upgrade yourself forthwith. Please do not repeat your conflated misunderstanding. -- Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.