Is there a compiled* programming language with dynamic, maybe even weak typing?

Question

I wondered if there is a programming language which compiles to machine code/binary (not bytecode then executed by a VM, that\'s something completely different when considering

Answer 1

Python to C probably needs these criteria.

1. Write in Python.

2. Compile Python to Executable. See Process to convert simple Python script into Windows executable. Also see Writing code translator from Python to C?

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible. See Julia. It is a dynamic language (you can write programs without types) but it never runs on a VM. It compiles the program to native code at runtime (JIT compilation).

Answer 3

Objective-C has many of the features you mention: it compiles to machine code and is effectively dynamically typed with respect to object instances. The id type can store any class instance and Objective-C uses message passing instead of member function calls. Methods can be created/added at runtime. The Objective-C runtime can also synthesize class instance variables at runtime, but local variables still need to be declared (just as in C).

C# 4.0 has many of these features, except that it is compiled to IL (bytecode) and interpreted using a virtual machine (the CLR). This brings up an interesting point, however: if bytecode is just-in-time compiled to machine code, does that count? If so, it opens to the door to not only any of the .Net languages, but Python (see PyPy or Unladed Swallow or IronPython) and Ruby (see MacRuby or IronRuby) and many other dynamically typed languages, not mention many LISP variants.

Answer 4

VB 6 has most of that

Answer 5

I believe Lisp fits that description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp

Answer 6

Objective-C might have some of the properties you seek. Classes can be opened and altered in runtime, and you can send any kind of message to an object, whether it usually responds to it or not. In that way, you can implement duck typing, much like in Ruby. The type id, roughly equivalent to a void*, can be endowed with interfaces that specify a contract that the (otherwise unknown) type will adhere to.