Type Coercion

          int i = 4;
          float f = 3.5;
          i = f; // coerce float to int
          

After the class activity today, you should notice:

• Java forbids lossy implicit type coercions
• Java allows lossy explicit type coercions
• Java forbids type coercions that make no sense, e.g. double to bool

Type Coercion in C

If you did the same chart for C, you would see that every box is a YES. C allows coercions between any primitive types. The only coercion that C forbids is between points and non-pointers.

Type Coercion in Bash

If you did the same chart for Bash, you would see that this is pointless because Bash only has primitive strings, so there is nothing to coerce.

Type Coercion in Haskell/Ada

If you did the same chart for Haskell/Ada, you would see that the entire implicit coercion chart was NOs. Many functional languages do not allow implicit coercions.