"no variable or argument declarations are necessary."

[Magnus Lycka]

James A. Donald wrote:
> What can one do to swiftly detect this type of bug?

Unit tests. In my experience the edit - test cycle in
Python is typically roughly as fast as the edit - compile
cycle in e.g. C++, and much faster than the full edit -
compile - link - test cycle in C++.

You do use automated tests for your programs don't you?
Otherwise I think you are sifting out gnats while you
are are swallowing camels.

There are also lint-like tools such as pylint and
pychecker if you think static tests are useful for you.

Here at Carmen, we've actually skipped the unit test
step, and run functional tests at once, using the
Texttest framework--and that fits well with our type
of apps. See http://texttest.carmen.se/