3 ms·
I downvoted you. First of all, your explanation of what "classical Dijkstra strawman" is lacks the substantiation. Second, your statement about C vs Python is a
by js8 11mo ago
I downvoted you. First of all, your explanation of what "classical Dijkstra strawman" is lacks the substantiation. Second, your statement about C vs Python is a sort of strawman itself in the context of static vs dynamic typing. You should compare Python with things like Java, Rust or Haskell. (Or C with dynamic languages from similar era - LISP, Rexx, Forth etc.)
- bazoom42 11mo agoIt is a strawman because nobody actually equates the ease of programming with the ease of making undetected mistakes.
- vacuity 11mo agoPresumably no one thinks "I love using [dynamically-typed language] because I can make mistakes easier", but on the other hand, isn't it the case that large codebases are written with low initial friction but high future maintenance?
- bazoom42 11mo agoSo you agree it is a strawman?
- vacuity 11mo agoPerhaps Dijkstra was going for the former, but is it bad to consider a stronger argument along the lines of what he said?
- bazoom42 11mo agoA charitable interpretation would be he critizises e.g JavaScripts silent type coercion which can hide silly mistakes, compared to e.g Python which will generally throw an error in case of incompatible types.