Implementation of distributed methods that support generic functions

At a computer system including at least one processor and a memory, a computer-implemented method for implementing type checking at compile time and at runtime, the method comprising:

• an act of receiving a portion of software code for a distributed software application, the software code being written as a generic function in a computer programming language that supports reflection;
• an act of presenting a function signature at runtime to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler, the function signature describing which of a plurality of input and output data types the generic function is configured to work with;
• an act of performing type checking on the generic function at compile time and at runtime to determine whether type-based errors exist in the software code;
• and
• an act of implementing reflection at runtime to resolve each generic function to a function pointer after compilation by the JIT.

A computer system comprising the following:

• one or more processors;
• system memory;
• one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform a method for implementing type checking at compile time and at runtime, the method comprising the following:
• an act of receiving a portion of software code for a distributed software application, the software code being written as a generic function in a computer programming language that supports reflection, wherein the generic function comprises a template usable with a plurality of different types;
• an act of presenting a function signature at runtime to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler, the function signature describing which of a plurality of input and output data types the generic function is configured to work with;
• an act of performing type checking on the generic function at compile time and at runtime to determine whether type-based errors exist in the software code;
• and
• an act of implementing reflection at runtime to resolve each generic function to a function pointer after compilation by the JIT.