DenkzeitWiki

Type Inference

• Wiki:TypeInference

TypeInference is the analysis of a program to infer the types of some or all expressions, usually at CompileTime. It can be used for languages with either StaticTyping or SoftTyping. See also ManifestTyping and ImplicitTyping.

• StaticTyping
• Wiki:SoftTyping (optional types, kind of implicit Typing)
• Wiki:ManifestTyping (requiring type declarations)
• ImplicitTyping

TypeInference is often used in FunctionalProgrammingLanguages. The compiler or interpreter needs only the minimum information to be able to figure out the type of an expression or variable.

• AutomaticTyping? (eq. LatentTyping): requiring no or little type annotation.

• Static typing is about the ability to type check a program for type correctness.
• Static typing is about being able to deliver better runtime performance.
• Static typing is not about putting the burden of declaring types on the programmer as most mainstream languages do.
• The mechanism that frees the programmer from having to babysit the compiler is called type inference.

Type inference means you don't have to worry about declaring types everywhere just to make the compiler happy. Type inference means you can be productive without giving up the safety net of the type system nor sacrificing performance.

• Aggressive Type Inference in Python
  
• Practical type inference for arbitrary-rank types
  
• Type inference for Python