[Python-Dev] Emotional responses to PEPs 484 and 526

[Nick Coghlan]

On 3 September 2016 at 18:03, Stephen J. Turnbull
<turnbull.stephen.fw at u.tsukuba.ac.jp> wrote:
> Therefore, I think Nick's version was an abuse of variable annotation.
> I don't mean to criticize Nick, as he was trying to make the best of
> an unlikely proposal.  But if Nick can fall into this trap[2], I think
> the fears of many that type annotations will grow like fungus on code
> that really doesn't need them, and arguably is better without them,
> are quite reasonable.

I suggest lots of things of python-ideas that I would probably oppose
if they ever made it as far as python-dev - enabling that kind of
speculative freedom is a large part of *why* we have a brainstorming
list.

For me, type annotations fall into the same category in practice as
metaclasses and structural linters: if you're still asking yourself
the question "Do I need one?" the answer is an emphatic "No". They're
tools designed to solve particular problems, so you reach for them
when you have those problems, rather than as a matter of course.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia