# Type inference in ruby **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [8 January 2005 19:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/type-inference-in-ruby/15673 "2005-01-08T19:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@E\_S](https://rubytalk.org/u/E_S)\ **Post date:** [8 January 2005 19:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/type-inference-in-ruby/15673/1 "2005-01-08T19:35:08Z")
> Lähettäjä: Eric Anderson \ > Aihe: Re: Type inference in ruby > > Trevor Andrade wrote: > \> I was wondering whether it would be possible to have a type inference system > \> in ruby. My question was asked before > > I am sure it is possible to implement but I think most people end up > wondering why do it? If you want a typed system (strong or weak) there > are plenty of languages that support it natively. For me that is one of > the reasons I left those other languages. For me a type system has too > much coding overhead without much benefit. The two advantages are: > > \* Catches type errors > \* Possibly better optimizations > > To answer the first advantage Ruby encourages Unit testing. Unit testing > it 10 times better than type checking because it can not only check for > valid types but also check for logic errors. So why spend the overhead > of a type system when unit testing is better. > > The second advantage again isn't an issue for me. Ruby is fast enough. > If I need it faster I can profile the code to find bottlenecks. If I > need it even faster I can recode the bottlenecks in C. Again, the > overhead of a type system is not worth even the possibility of better > optimizations. A TI system could be implemented as a separate library to be run on some code rather than as a part of that code, as an additional testing facility. That being said, I think it may be too much trouble for little gain. > Just my two cents, > > Eric E