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Concept
Type inference
Summary
Type inference refers to the automatic detection of the type of an expression in a formal language. These include programming languages and mathematical type systems, but also natural languages in some branches of computer science and linguistics.
Types in a most general view can be associated to a designated use suggesting and restricting the activities possible for an object of that type. Many nouns in language specify such uses. For instance, the word leash indicates a different use than the word line. Calling something a table indicates another designation than calling it firewood, though it might be materially the same thing. While their material properties make things usable for some purposes, they are also subject of particular designations. This is especially the case in abstract fields, namely mathematics and computer science, where the material is finally only bits or formulas.
To exclude unwanted, but materially possible uses, the concept of types is defined and applied in many variations. In mathematics, Russell's paradox sparked early versions of type theory. In programming languages, typical examples are "type errors", e.g. ordering a computer to sum values that are not numbers. While materially possible, the result would no longer be meaningful and perhaps disastrous for the overall process.
In a typing, an expression is opposed to a type. For example, , , and are all separate terms with the type for natural numbers. Traditionally, the expression is followed by a colon and its type, such as . This means that the value is of type . This form is also used to declare new names, e.g. , much like introducing a new character to a scene by the words "detective Decker".
Contrary to a story, where the designations slowly unfold, the objects in formal languages often have to be defined with their type from very beginning. Additionally, if the expressions are ambiguous, types may be needed to make the intended use explicit. For instance, the expression might have a type but could also be read as a rational or real number or even as a plain text.
Official source
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