Strongly Typed

Man working on a computer
Abel Mitja Varela/E+/Getty Images
By
Paul Leahy
Paul Leahy
Computer Science Expert
  • M.A., Advanced Information Systems, University of Glasgow
Paul Leahy is a computer programmer with over a decade of experience working in the IT industry, as both an in-house and vendor-based developer.
Learn about our Editorial Process
Updated on June 01, 2017

Definition:

Java is a strongly typed programming language because every variable must be declared with a data type. A variable cannot start off life without knowing the range of values it can hold, and once it is declared, the data type of the variable cannot change.

Examples:

The following declaration is allowed because the variable has "hasDataType" is declared to be a boolean data type: 


boolean hasDataType;

For the rest of its life, hasDataType can only ever have a value of true or false.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Leahy, Paul. "Strongly Typed." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/strongly-typed-2034295. Leahy, Paul. (2020, August 26). Strongly Typed. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/strongly-typed-2034295 Leahy, Paul. "Strongly Typed." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/strongly-typed-2034295 (accessed March 24, 2023).