Technically it is catching the type error at compile time (but compile time is Just Ahead Of Time). If you want something that feels more like type checking in a statically compiled language, you should definitely check out https://github.com/aviatesk/JET.jl

> It also can't catch trivial stuff like misspelling a struct field on a variable of known type.

The default definition is

`getproperty(x, f::Symbol) = getfield(x, f)`

and `getproperty` can be overridden for a type, so `foo.a` can succeed even if `getfield(foo, :a)` fails. (`getfield` cannot be overridden).

So it's not trivial to determine, given the the of `foo`, from the syntax `foo.a` whether that code errors.

Ahhhh - you want a statically typed language. That's definitely not Julia, you're probably best off with Java there.

I'm well aware which languages are statically typed and which are not. I was answering your question:

> Have I misunderstood what is meant by strong type checker?