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Untyped Python: The Python That Was
- perrygeo 3y agoI appreciate the author's nuanced approach here: not just types but each entire ecosystem has tradeoffs. Different tools for different jobs; that shouldn't be controversial. As a disgruntled Python developer, my take is that everyone else is getting better at types while Python is stuck. It has become the immovable legacy language. It's not really a static vs dynamic issue. The static languages are all getting really good at type inference. The dynamic languages are getting better at optional typing. They've caught up in terms of developer experience. They're all better at dependency management for sure. "Modern" Python code requires adding verbose type annotations without providing many runtime benefits - the worst of both worlds. Modern static languages, ironically, can require _less_ manual type information while still providing optimizations and runtime guarantees. Modern dynamic languages provide robust optional typing for surgically adding real typing benefits (mypy doesn't cut it). Untyped Python is great for what it is (scripting) but I see this as more evidence that Python is a toy language that we've shoved into a production box. And it's falling behind BOTH sides of the static vs dynamic debate.