Issue
Can dynamic type in Dart 2 assign to value of difference type and how compile infer them?
For example what is x type in dart 2 and does this compile?
dynamic x = 1;
x = x + "Hello";
Solution
The dynamic type is special. It really means “trust me, I know what I’m doing” and it turns off some static type checking.
As a type constraint, dynamic is really equivalent to Object (you can assign any value to a variable with type dynamic), but when you try to call methods on the object, you are allowed to try, even if the method doesn’t exist on Object.
In this case, dynamic x = 1; works because 1 is assignable to Object.
Line 2 fails. x = x + "Hello"; tries to call the + method on 1 with "Hello" as argument, and even though the + operator exists, the argument has the wrong type.
You said “trust me, I know what I’m doing”, so the compiler let you do try – there are no static warnings or errors. You got they type wrong, so the runtime stops you before things become unsound.
You could also have written x.argleBargleGlopGlyf(42), and the compiler still wouldn’t have stopped you, even if there is no argleBargleGlopGlyf method anywhere in your program. With great static power comes great dynamic responsibility.
Answered By – lrn
Answer Checked By – Mildred Charles (FlutterFixes Admin)