[Python-Dev] Type hints -- a mediocre programmer's reaction (original) (raw)

Barry Warsaw barry at python.org
Tue Apr 21 15:48:59 CEST 2015

On Apr 21, 2015, at 01:34 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:

Putting the type information in a stub file is an exponentially more distant fourth best, or to put it another way, the worst solution for where to put type hints. Not only do you Repeat Yourself with the name of the parameter, but also the name of the function (or method and class) AND module. The type information isn't even in the same file, which increases the chance of it being lost, forgotten, deleted, out of date, unmaintained, etc.

All true, but the trade-off is the agility and ease of working on, reading, and understanding the stdlib, all of which IMHO will suffer if type hints are inlined there.

What I don't want to have happen is for type hints to slowly infiltrate the stdlib to the point where no patch will be accepted unless it also has hints. I have the same gut reaction to this as RDM expressed a few posts back.

One of the thing I love most about Python is its dynamic typing. I'm all for giving linter developers a hook for experimenting with their tools, I just don't care and I don't want to have to care. Maybe some day they will make it so compelling that I will care, but I want to be convinced first.

So I think stub files in the stdlib are the right compromise today.

Cheers, -Barry

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