That takes advantage of the fact that Python puts a bunch of relatively obscure functionality in scope by default... thus increasing the chance that programs wi

That takes advantage of the fact that Python puts a bunch of relatively obscure functionality in scope by default... thus increasing the chance that programs will use the wrong method or rely on stuff they don't really intend to. Case manipulation isn't something most modern programs should even be doing at all, since it's almost impossible to internationalize it. In fact it's really mostly name space management. Python doesn't require you to pull in "upper" because it starts with a relatively big name space. It doesn't require you declare the main program because you're relying on the fact that Python executes a file on loading it (and that reliance is arguably bad Python style). All of the "std::" stuff is a name space management choice. ... and the rest has nothing to do with static typing either. The way the code is indented on multiple lines is a stylistic convention. The transform primitive requiring you to specify bounds is a library choice, related to the language's apparent lack of a universal way to map over a container. I'm not sure why you need the lambda. The rewrite in place is memory model stuff inherited from C. In Haskell, which is fully compiled and is about the most rigid static typed language you could ever imagine: import Data.Char(toUpper) main = putStrLn (toUpper <$> "hello") If you'd asked for something that didn't require oddball functionality, then that could probably also have been a one-liner.