Shifting C# Toward Dynamic Typing in Visual C#.NET

Encode Code 39 Full ASCII in Visual C#.NET Shifting C# Toward Dynamic Typing

So-called dynamic languages are a trend that keeps coming back, like ruffled tux shirts Dynamic languages are languages that allow for loose typing, rather than static The concept got started in the 1960s with LISP Dynamic languages came back in the late 1980s for two reasons: network management scripting and the artificial intelligence craze Thanks to the Web, the buzzword is back yet again The World Wide Web, for those of you who aren t old enough to remember, was built on View Source and dynamic languages Microsoft s original Web development language, Active Server Pages, was built on VBScript a dynamic language The Web is better with a dynamic programming environment, so the trend is probably here to stay this time (until the next big thing, anyway) C# isn t the only language that is adding dynamic language features, and dynamic type isn t the only language feature that has been added to make it more appealing for Web programmers Several dynamic languages have been around for a while, like these: Perl Visual Basic Smalltalk LISP Scheme While some of these aren t as popular as they once were, they are still out there and have pushed the trend in the newer languages You can see this trend in all the new or refurbished dynamic languages that have popped up over the last ten years Many of them have roots in the Web, while others are being newly used for the Web: PHP Ruby JavaScript Cold Fusion

Programmers who work in dynamic languages how can I put this gently feel strongly about their choice of tools The communities are very strong Developers who work in dynamic languages use them for practically everything except highly structured team-build kinds of environments, like: Scripting infrastructure for system maintenance Building tests One-use utilities Server farm maintenance Scripting other applications Building Web sites File maintenance Dynamic languages are popular for these kinds of tasks for two reasons First, they provide instant feedback, because you can try a piece of code outside the constraints of the rest of the program you are writing Second, you can start building your higher-level pieces of code without building the plumbing that makes it work For instance, Ruby has a command line interface that you can simply paste a function into, even out of context, and see how it works There is even a Web version at http://tryrubyhobixcom/ You can type code right in there, even if there are classes referenced that aren t defined, because Ruby will just take a guess at it This moves nicely into the next point, that a dynamic language enables you to build a class that refers to a type that you haven t defined elsewhere For example, you can make a class to schedule an event, without actually having to build the underlying Event type first All of this lends itself to a language that is a lot more responsive to change You can make a logic change in one place and not have to dig through reams of code to fix all the type declarations everywhere Add this to optional and named parameters (see 2) and you have a lot less typing to do when you have to change your program

Programming Dynamically!

Other benefits to dynamic languages in general show up as you use them more For instance, macro languages are usually dynamically typed If you have tried to build macros in previous versions of Visual Studio, you know what a pain it is to use a static language Making C# (and VBNET, for that matter) more dynamic not only makes it a better language for extending Visual Studio, but it also gives programmers the capability to include the language in the programs they write so that other developers can further extend those applications