Type Hinting vs Type Checking and Preconditions

[msoulier]

> It's also important to note that while Guido did spend a lot of time
> thinking about optional type markups (and this caused a LOT of hand
> wringing in the Python community, the general consensus in the end was
> that there was no real benefit from it. (I got the impression that a
> lot of the push was from Java/C++ people that didn't really understand
> what dynamic languages are about, and wanted to make Python more like
> Java/C++. Just my impression though).

It's very comforting to hear this. Perl has already added optional
type-checking, and personally, I just shook my head and asked "why?". I
came to the Python community because I was sick of Perl, and not happy
with Java, so I find myself resistent to attempts to make Python more
like either, as I'd like to leave those worlds behind.

The only compelling thing about Perl was the CPAN, and the cheeseshop
is looking better every day.

The major compelling thing about Java for me is ease of distribution,
and Python is getting better in that respect as well. 

Mike Soulier