Is type safety worth the trade-offs?

Posted by Prof Plum on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Prof Plum
Published on 2011-03-18T18:11:22Z Indexed on 2011/03/19 0:18 UTC
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dynamic-typing

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data-types

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type-safety

I began coding in in Python primarily where there is no type safety, then moved to C# and Java where there is. I found that I could work a bit more quickly and with less headaches in Python, but then again, my C# and Java apps are at much higher level of complexity so I have never given Python a true stress test I suppose.

The Java and C# camps make it sound like without the type safety in place, most people would be running into all sorts of horrible bugs left an right and it would be more trouble than its worth.

This is not a language comparison, so please do not address issues like compiled vs interpreted. Is type safety worth the hit to speed of development and flexibilty? WHY?

to the people who wanted an example of the opinion that dynamic typing is faster:

"Use a dynamically typed language during development. It gives you faster feedback, turn-around time, and development speed." - http://blog.jayway.com/2010/04/14/static-typing-is-the-root-of-all-evil/

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