code: public static String getVariableType(String type) throws IOException {
          if (getVariableTypes() != null) {
              String newType = getVariableTypes().get(type);
              if (newType != null)
                  return newType;
          }
          return type;
      }
docs: If the type argument needs to be mapped to a new variable type class,
  returns the new class name; otherwise returns the unmodified argument.