In a new post today Jani Hartikainen takes a look at one of the things that makes PHP both powerful and unpredictable at times - its variable typing, static versus dynamic.

It seems that PHP has moved a bit towards static typing, and languages like C# seem to be implementing some dynamic features. Are we going towards a "mixed" language with static and dynamic typing? What's the "sweet spot" between completely static (like C++) and completely dynamic typing (like Python)?

He compares the benefits of static and dynamic, and a particular place where PHP falls a bit flat - type hinting in certain situations. He agrees, though, that dynamic typing is "the way to go" since it gives the developer the flexibility they might need for more "typing tricks" in their apps. Oh, and "duck typing"...