It looks like a great example of the all else equal fallacy: "let's take language S which is statically typed and language D which is dynamically typed [...]. L

It looks like a great example of the all else equal fallacy: "let's take language S which is statically typed and language D which is dynamically typed [...]. Let's also say that these two languages are identical in all respects except for this single fact [...]" If all else were truly equal, Britton would be right -- static typing clearly would be better. (I think. It's a question I wrestle with quite a bit.) But all else isn't equal [], so the static vs dynamic distinction is just one of many aspects to take into account when choosing a programming language. Please correct me if I'm wrong: if there's a language that has the feel and rapid turnaround of a dynamically typed language with type checking performed early, I'd like to know about it! The closest I've used is probably Scala, maybe OCaml (but I've only studied it briefly, and I've certainly never mastered it, alas).