In Practical Foundation of Programming Languages by Harper
There have been many attempts by advocates of dynamic typing to distinguish dynamic from static languages. It is useful to consider the supposed distinctions from the present viewpoint.
Dynamic languages associate types with values, whereas static languages associate types to variables. Dynamic languages associate classes, not types, to values by tagging them with identifiers such as num and fun. This form of classification amounts to a use of recursive sum types within a statically typed language, and hence cannot be seen as a distinguishing feature of dynamic languages. Moreover, static languages assign types to expressions, not just variables. Because dynamic languages are just particular static languages (with a single type), the same can be said of dynamic languages.
Dynamic languages check types at run-time, whereas static language check types at compile time. Dynamic languages are just as surely statically typed as static languages, albeit for a degenerate type system with only one type. As we have seen, dynamic languages do perform class checks at run-time, but so too do static languages that admit sum types. The difference is only the extent to which we must use classification: always in a dynamic language, only as necessary in a static language.
What do the first two sentences in the first part try to say:
What do dynamic languages associate with values: types or classes or both?
What is the significance of associating types or classes to values or variables? Do static languages associate types to variables but not to values? Do dynamic languages associate types or classes to variables besides values?
Thanks.