Strong typing implementation for Python

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 12 Oct 2015 10:24 am, Vladimir Ignatov wrote:

> Hi,
> 
>> You might like to investigate Boo, which is a .NET-based
>> language with a Python-like syntax:
> 
> AFAIK Unity just dropped Boo support from version 5.0 because
> virtually nobody used it.

What's Unity? I've never heard of it. Why should Boo users care about it?


> Those little known niche languages are
> destined to extinct.

Yes, you are correct, and sadly while rubbish languages like PHP, Java,
Javascript and C continue in popularity for decades, amazingly good,
powerful, safe, rich languages like D, Eiffel and others languish in
obscurity as niche languages for just as long, and innovative languages
like Boo are almost certain to die off.

Network effects have a dark side, and the IT community as a whole is not
just conservative, but *stupidly* conservative to the point of pain. And
becoming *more* conservative and scared of change, not less.


> Interesting language is Apple's Swift. While it's statically typed
> language, type specification is optional as far as compiler can figure
> out type. 

That's called type inference, and there's nothing innovative about Swift to
include that as a feature. Type inference is *old*. The theory behind type
inference goes back to 1958, and languages such as ML and OCaml have
included it for decades, and yet here we are in 2015 and people think that
it's something cool and new :-(




-- 
Steven