Adding static typing to Python

[Jason Orendorff]

Milliken, Peter wrote:
> Strong typing requires that you design before you code (Extreme 
> Programmers beware! :-)) - therefore by the time a clean compile
> is achieved 95% of the bugs *are* out :-) That is one of the
> primary advantages to strong typing, it *forces* you to do the
> design up front otherwise you will never get a clean compile.

Hmm.  Perhaps you can explain this in more detail.

Are you arguing that compilers for strongly typed languages tend to
reject ill-designed or thrown-together code?  I hadn't noticed.

Surely you're not arguing that extra-productive programming tools
are bad because they encourage the programmer to waste his or her
own time by skipping the design step.

Maybe this is true in some sense - since I enjoy coding Python so
much, perhaps I'm overeager to get started?  But if so, then the
solution is sane development practices and a touch of
self-discipline.  Which will likely come in handy on any ten-year
project.


In any case, it's not nice to pick on XP and then say:

> [...] I have probably got the idea of Extreme
> Programming wrong - I really don't care, from what I have seen
> described the style doesn't suite me :-)

Blah.  :(

## Jason Orendorff    http://www.jorendorff.com/