== Introduction to Type Inference ==

Although you can explicitly declare the type of a local variable, you don't have to:
{{{
#!cobra
# the long way:
i as int = 0

# the short, easy way:
i = 0
}}}
The type of the variable on the left is taken to be the type of the expression on the right.

This also works for object variables:
{{{
#!cobra
class Person

    var _name = ''  # typed as String
    var _age = 0    # typed as int
}}}

If the inferred type is not suitable, perhaps because you need a more general type, you can provide one explicitly or even typecast the right-hand side:
{{{
#!cobra
class Person

    var _name = '' to dynamic
    var _age as int64 = 0

    def foo
        i = 0 to int64
        j as int64 = 0
}}}

Sometimes you want the variable to be typed as a base class because you may assign other things to it in the future:
{{{
#!cobra
    shape = Circle() to Shape

    share as Shape = Circle()
}}}

== Generics ==

Type inference also occurs for the types of generic lists, sets and dictionaries:
{{{
#!cobra
    names = ['foo', 'bar']  # List<of String>
    numbers = {1, 2, 3}     # Set<of int>
    shapes = {'circle': Circle(), 'square': Square()}  # Dictionary<of String, Shape>
}}}

== If Expressions ==

If-expressions are typed based on their two possible expression results:

TODO

== Greatest Common Denominator ==

TODO

== See Also ==

See also: TypesOverview, LanguageTopics