Typing system vs. Java

[Courageous]

>My take is that, especially in Python, type-related bugs make up an
>extremely small segment of all bugs, and the examples I've seen of
>specifying all that type information dramatically increase the complexity
>of the source code, even to the point of possibly _introducing_ bugs.

I feel alot of synergy for the above sentiment and believe it is quite
insightful. Of late, I've been thinking alot about lexical, grammatical,
and semantic complexity as it applies to computer programming and
the various different correctness memes which float around in the
community. I've concluded  that comprehensible tersness trumps all
other measures of merit.

I believe that there is a sort of Occam's Razor of Coding, as it were,
where given two different programs which execute identically, the one
which is shorter, simpler, and easier to understand is the better
program, notwithstanding any principles it may or may not adhere to.

Various different rules which have crept up over the years such as
"don't use global variables," and "practice strong encapsulation,"
and so forth are all only distractions and are useless to the degree
that in any particular context they don't satisfy Sir Occam's relentless
blade.


Joe Kraska
San Diego
CA