what is a type?
@wiredaemon asked:
What is a type in programming languages? Hot take answers only!
In increasing order of heat:
"type" is a conflation of some semi-distinct things: the human-facing descriptive properties of some data, usually the shape and boundaries and intended usages; the in-memory layout of some data (with implied intended usage); a descriptive tag associated with some in-memory data (of otherwise indeterminate layout (an array of bytes could mean literally anything)); i can't think of others but i know there are others (maybe like "families/clades of types" are a kind of type, aka generics or higher kinded types or other stuff i don't really know about (shout outs to cubical agda containing literally 0 words i know)).
types are limits on what data can be, like the office busybody shaming you for wearing your favorite shirt because "it's not professional".
cw: prisons
- types are handcuffs and prison guards and barbed wire, wielded by the industrial prison complex (aka the compiler), violently enforcing order and subjugating all who exist within. Conform or be denied your very existence, they say.
- types are when my fingers move to make symbols appear on my screen :eggbug-uwu:
