Future Types

[NewsBot]

Not everyone are prepared to admit the obvious, but types are helpful. But where is the world of types moving?

I like the notion of duck typing (and structural typing) as apparently found in VB9 (not a VB user). Structural typing is a pretty powerful notion, although it could perhaps be considered somewhat hazzardous. I'd like to be able to do the same in C# as well, saying something like "interface IDemand { Some thing(); }" and "void use(relaxed IDemand it) ...".

Then there's pattern matching (a wonderful concept), where a value is structurally matched on the set of possible values of the type. In C# there are enum's and switches, but enum's are like plancton in the ocean of types - not that powerful, can only define primitive values, can't be recursive and can't be type-parametric/generic and can't be used to guarantee exhaustive matching (case-checks). The F# pendent, Discriminated Unions, does have this added power.

A separate discussion is how far C# can be evolved before the added formalisms start making the language an ugly mixed bag, as opposed to a choherent language of synergistic constructs as in C# 3.0.

Where do you see C#, CIL, and other languages going in the future, with respect to typing?

 

 

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