PEP 526 - var annotations and the spirit of python

[Bart]

On 04/07/2018 06:52, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:22:43 -0500, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
> 
>>> x: int = 3
> [...]
> 
>> This strikes me as syntactic noise.  Python is dynamically typed and
>> will remain so. Why clutter the language - even optionally - with stuff
>> like this?

> There's no need to declare x:int = 3 since any linter worth its salt
> ought to be able to infer that x is an int if it is assigned the value 3.
> Anyone writing that needs to be slapped with a clue-stick, it's not 1971
> any more, type inference ought to be considered bare minimum for even a
> halfway decent type checker or linter.

Presumably one type hint applies for the whole scope of the variable, 
not just the one assignment. Which means that here:

    x: int = 3
    x = f(x)

you know x should still an int after these two statements, because the 
type hint says so. Without it:

    x = 3
    x = f(x)

x could be anything.

> A better example would be:
> 
>      x: int = None
> 
> which ought to be read as "x is an int, or None, and it's currently None".

In that case the type hint is lying. If both x and y have type hints of 
'int', then with this:

    z = x + y

you might infer that z will be also 'int' (whether it it type hinted or 
not). But if either of x and y can be None, then this might not even 
execute.

If something is an int, then make it an int:

    x: int = 0

-- 
bart