What If..... Strong Types

[Benno]

Don Garrett <garrett at bgb.cc> wrote in message news:<3D0C0F0D.4030900 at bgb.cc>...
> I'm not suggesting any real changes to any, only proposing a thought 
> experiment.
> 
>    What if Python had been built from the start with strong types? And I mean 
> strong types, not strong typing. The distinction I am trying to draw is that 
> variables would not be typed, but that all types would have rigid interfaces.

<snip>

>    I'm just wondering if the change would be good or bad. Would it really 
> break anything important in Python today? 

Well, it would break my stuff, which is pretty damned important to me :).
Dynamically creating/modifying things on the fly can produce nicer, cleaner
code than would otherwise be possible. 

> Would it prevent any common errors? 

Possibly but not that many imho.

> Would it help with automated code analysis (compilation and optimization 
> included) as much as I think it would?

Possibly, it is probably rather difficult to follow through all the 
implications of such as change however.

Cheers,

Benno