Why Static Typing Came Back • Richard Feldman • GOTO 2022
GOTO Conferences
52 min, 1 sec
An in-depth look into the reasons behind the resurgence of static typing in programming languages.
Summary
- Static typing came back due to the adoption of its beneficial features without the downsides previously associated with it.
- Historically, dynamic typing gained popularity with early web use cases favoring fast shipping and iteration, typified by languages in the LAMP stack and frameworks like Ruby on Rails.
- Changes in the last decade include static typing without ceremony, helpful type checkers, and fast feedback loops from modern IDEs.
- Evidence suggests that the future will favor statically typed languages without gradual typing over dynamically typed or gradually typed languages.
Chapter 1
Richard Feldman discusses his programming background and introduces the topic of static typing.
- Richard Feldman shares his journey from Java to dynamically typed languages and his surprise at the resurgence of static typing.
- The talk aims to explore the reasons behind the popularity shift from dynamic to static typing.
Chapter 2
The early popularity of dynamic typing is attributed to the rise of the web.
- Dynamic typing became popular as it favored fast shipping and iteration, valuable for early web development.
- Programming languages like Perl, Lua, and PHP became mainstream in the 1990s alongside the growth of the web.
Chapter 3
Static typing's resurgence is linked to its new-found ability to offer benefits without historical downsides.
- Languages like TypeScript demonstrate static typing's ability to offer benefits like fast feedback loops without the previous downsides.
- Languages that were dynamically typed added static typing features, leading to the rise of gradual typing.
Chapter 4
An analysis of programming language trends suggests a strong shift towards static typing.
- Red Monk programming language rankings show a clear trend towards static typing.
- Many popular dynamic languages have added static type systems, leaving few purely dynamic ones.
Chapter 5
Richard Feldman predicts the future of programming languages, favoring static typing.
- Based on historical trends and the evolution of language features, static typing without gradual typing is predicted to gain more popularity.
- The prediction is that most of the next five languages to enter the top 20 will be statically but not gradually typed.
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