What Does Stringly Typed Mean?
“Stringly typed” is a slang IT term related to coding strategies that describes the process where a developer uses string values excessively for variables. Stringly typed code is code in which variables are often typed as strings, and handled as strings, when there are better alternatives available to programmers. It is also a word play off of “strongly typed” code, which describes code where types are used rigidly to enforce results. Stringly typed code may be strongly typed, in that it reinforces the use of strings, but it is generally not “strongly written,” as it typically does not make use of the most efficient solutions.
Techopedia Explains Stringly Typed
In stringly typed code, even different types of data variables like real numbers may be typed as strings and handled as strings within functions or procedures. Many of these functions and procedures return a string instead of an integer, floating point value or other numerical value. One of the best examples of stringly typed code is illustrated in a lolcatz meme accompanied by the text: “I can has string to store date valyooz?” Here, the meme’s creator is referencing the idea that date values are much more efficiently handled as numbers, but a programmer might type them as strings instead.
