# Why is a const binding not always a type alias?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-is-a-const-binding-not-always-a-type-alias/61884>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [May 26, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-is-a-const-binding-not-always-a-type-alias/61884 "2021-05-26T19:31:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 12

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**Author:** ![jlapeyre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jlapeyre/32/4514_2.png) [@jlapeyre](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jlapeyre)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-is-a-const-binding-not-always-a-type-alias/61884/12 "2026-10-03T15:29:48Z")

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Benoît Legat fixed (to the extent that it was incorrect behavior) this in [show: Prefer type aliases with fewer parameters - Pull Request #63372 - JuliaLang/julia - GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/63372). (Change in number of lines, including comments, is -1, +13)

```julia-auto
julia> VERSION
v"1.14.0-DEV.3477"

julia> Dog
Dog (alias for A{String})

julia> Cat
Cat (alias for A{Int64})

julia> Giraffe
Giraffe (alias for A{<:Number})

```

The benefits are greater for types with more nesting and complexity.  
The change was advertised by Jakob Nybo Andersen in [This month in Julia World - 2026-09](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/this-month-in-julia-world-2026-09/139786).

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