From: Mark Wilson <mwilson13@...>
Date: 2003-04-12T13:30:11+09:00
Subject: Does dynamic typing make it easier to place an object in a container?

The following is from 
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_C_programming_language

Is this a correct statement about the value of dynamic typing? And what 
exactly does it mean?

"However when one does need dynamic typing, it becomes tremendously 
powerful. Consider a simple example, placing an object in a container. 
In strongly-typed [sic] languages like C++ and Java, the programmer is 
forced to write a container class for a generic type of object, and 
then cast back and forth between the abstract generic type and the real 
type (C++ can also use templates, but many find these somewhat 
cumbersome and obscure). Sadly, casting breaks the discipline of strong 
typing -- if you put in an Integer and read out a String, you get an 
error. This is annoying when you consider that it was a string when you 
put it in there three lines earlier, and now you have to tell the 
compiler that it's a string coming back out just to call toUpperCase(). 
Dynamic typing thankfully removes this problem."