strong typing

strong typing

(programming)Strict enforcement of type rules with noexceptions. Incorrect type usage can be detected either atrun time or at compile time. Strong typing catches moretype errors than weak typing, resulting in fewer harderrors. In a strongly typed language, conversion betweentypes requires the use of explicit conversion functions asopposed to implicit type coercion.

Typing strength is a continuum; ML is more strongly typedthan Java, which is more strongly typed than C.

Strong or weak typing is independent of the choice betweenstatic typing and dynamic typing. Among strongly typedlanguages, Ada, Java, Haskell and ML are staticallytyped, whereas Python and Ruby are dynamically typed.

strong typing

A programming language characteristic that provides strict adherence to the rules of typing. Data of one type (integer, string, etc.) cannot be passed to a variable expecting data of a different type. Contrast with weak typing.