strong/weak - dynamic/static [Was: Getting started]

[Jacek Generowicz]

Sorry to go off at a tangent ...

"Lance" <lbrannma at cablespeed.com> writes:

> Hi All,
> 
> Last night I attended a Weak typing, C++ Templates, and Python talk by Bruce
> Eckel. It was great, my introduction to Python.
> 
> I'm sold on Python and weak typing. I want to write a graphics module that
> will link to a C application, permitting scatter plots, bar charts, log
> scales, etc. I suppose the Python Imaging Library will be used for this
> purpose.

A quick google search suggests that Bruce Eckel really claims that
python is weakly typed (at least more weakly typed than C++).

I've seen these claims made so often now (a quick google search
suggests that the majority of opinions in netspace favour the "Python
is weakly typed" thesis) that I am seriously beginning to doubt my
understanding of the concepts of weak, strong, dynamic and static
typing.

Could someone provide a serious reference (i.e. something which would
have gone through some sort of editorial/peer/technical review, rather
than someone's random opinions on the web) explaining or defining the
concepts of weak, strong, dynamic and static typing.

Thanks,