[Python-ideas] Typecheckers: there can be only one

Hugh Fisher hugo.fisher at gmail.com
Fri Sep 9 05:50:07 EDT 2016


> From: Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info>
>
> I fear that you haven't grasped the fundamental difference between
> gradual static typing of a dynamically-typed language like Python, and
> non-gradual typing of statically-typed languages like C, Haskell, Java,
> etc. Your statement seems like a reasonable fear if you think of static
> typing as a mandatory pre-compilation step which prevents the code from
> compiling or running if it doesn't pass. But it makes no sense in the
> context of an optional code analysis step which warns of things which
> may lead to runtime exceptions.
>
> I think that a good analogy here is that type checkers in the Python
> ecosystem are equivalent to static analysis tools like Coverity and
> BLAST in the C ecosystem.

I guess time will show which of our analogies and expectations work
out. I've made my points, other people have made theirs, so I'll shut
up now. Thanks to everyone who responded.

-- 

        cheers,
        Hugh Fisher


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