[Python-Dev] Type hints -- a mediocre programmer's reaction

[Harry Percival]

> stub files are only used to type-check *users* of a module. If you want a
module itself to be type-checked you have to use inline type hints

is this a fundamental limitation, or just the current state of tooling?

On 20 April 2015 at 21:48, Harry Percival <harry.percival at gmail.com> wrote:

> > "I hate stub files. [...] in my opinion, [it] just about guarantees a
> maintenance burden that will fall by the side of the road.
>
> I'm not so pessimistic.  It's not like documentation or docstrings or
> comments -- the whole point is that it should be very easy to have an
> automated check for whether your stubs are in sync with your source,
> because both are in code.  Unlike docs or comments which can easily become
> out of date, because there's no automated process to tell you they need
> updating...  I'm thinking of it as a thing your editor will warn you of.
> Like pyflakes warnings about unused variables & co, I'm never happy until
> I've silenced them all in a file, and similarly, your editor will keep
> bugging you until you've got your stubs inline with your code...
>
>
> On 20 April 2015 at 20:37, Isaac Morland <ijmorlan at uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Apr 2015, Paul Moore wrote:
>>
>>  On 20 April 2015 at 19:41, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> tldr; type hints in python source are scary. Would reserving them for
>>>>> stub
>>>>> files be better?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I think so.  I think PEP 8 should require stub files for stdlib modules
>>>> and
>>>> strongly encourage them for 3rd party code.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Agreed. I have many of the same concerns as Harry, but I wouldn't have
>>> expressed them quite as well. I'm not too worried about actually
>>> removing annotations from the core language, but I agree that we
>>> should create a strong culture of "type hints go in stub files" to
>>> keep source files readable and clean.
>>>
>>> On that note, I'm not sure "stub" files is a particularly good name.
>>> Maybe "type files" would be better? Something that emphasises that
>>> they are the correct place to put type hints, not a workaround.
>>>
>>
>> How about "header" files?
>>
>> (ducks...)
>>
>> Isaac Morland           CSCF Web Guru
>> DC 2619, x36650         WWW Software Specialist
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Python-Dev mailing list
>> Python-Dev at python.org
>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
>> Unsubscribe:
>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/hjwp2%40cantab.net
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ------------------------------
> Harry J.W. Percival
> ------------------------------
> Twitter: @hjwp
> Mobile:  +44 (0) 78877 02511
> Skype:         harry.percival
>



-- 
------------------------------
Harry J.W. Percival
------------------------------
Twitter: @hjwp
Mobile:  +44 (0) 78877 02511
Skype:         harry.percival
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/attachments/20150420/be33160f/attachment.html>