[Python-Dev] Remove typing from the stdlib

[Lukasz Langa]

> On 3 Nov, 2017, at 4:01 PM, Victor Stinner <victor.stinner at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The question is if you would only need <Python 3.7> or <Python 3.7 +
> pip install typing>.
> 
> If typing is removed from the stdlib, you can still use it in your
> application. It's "just" another dependency no?


The ideal situation is that something is built-in and just works, examples: dicts, lists, sorted().

So, if you have to import it to use it, it's still great but less seamless, current example: regular expressions. Let's say Guido suggests we should import sorted, dict, and list before use. Not a big deal, right? I mean, how many applications do you know that don't use any other imports?

Finally, if you have to find a third-party package, add it to requirements.txt and manage the dependency forward, that's even less seamless. The standard library has a pretty conservative approach to backwards compatibility. On the other hand, third-party libraries often don't. Sure, there's noble exceptions but the general feel is that you need to be more careful with dependencies from PyPI. If somebody suggested that regular expressions or dictionaries should be moved to PyPI, in my book that would suggest strange things will start happening in the future.

So, the difference is in perceived usability. It's psychological.

- Ł
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