[Baypiggies] Frequently Argued Objections

[Smith1, Robert E]

"I'm trying to compile a list of frequent objections against using
Python and a rational response to each."

 

There are negatives regarding dynamic variable typing. For a person
reading code, you cannot tell from the signature of a function what
variable types it takes (you also can't tell what the return type is
from looking at a Python function signature). Also, you often cannot
tell from a variable instantiation what type it is without further
investigation of the type of the variable/function that is being used to
assign to it. Which makes code deciphering some degree more difficult.
And the compiler itself cannot tell from looking at things like a
function signature what variable types should be allowed and what should
not, so it cannot assist the programmer by catching things like function
calls that have improper parameter types, during compliation. 

 

As far as a response, I am actually of the opinion that static typing is
better for production systems. Or that the more critical the production
system is the more it should be statically typed. The extreme example
being code running on the Space Shuttle. But there are many who would
argue in favor of dynamic typing for production systems. Here's one:

 

http://www.chimu.com/publications/short/whyDynamicTyping.html

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