Similar to the author, I infrequently write Python code (though I have a long history with it), but I feel quite the opposite about type hints. A few specific comments:
- The LLMs can really help with typing tricky situations. If your editor can't already tell you what to use, asking an LLM usually can give me the answer.
- Type annotations for code that might change is a lifesaver, because when I change it later on I now get a bunch of conflicts where I've used it using the old way.
- Feel free to add annotations where it makes sense and is easy, and if something doesn't make sense or it is too hard to figure out the right type, you can skip it and still gain the benefits of using it elsewhere.
- Annotations don't "force you to think about types", you already are thinking about types. They let you think a bit less about types I would argue, because they're documented in function calls and returns. "Can I read() from input_file, or do I need to open()read()?" "input_file:Path" makes it better documented, without encoding the object type in the name.
I'm coming up on 30 years of using Python, and I never really missed typing, but honestly I write basically all of my new code with annotations because of the IDE benefits I get from it. I love that the Python implementation allows me to get the benefits without forcing it on me. In my distant past I very much loved coding in C, but was quite happy with Python's lack of strict typing. This feels like a good middle-ground.
- The LLMs can really help with typing tricky situations. If your editor can't already tell you what to use, asking an LLM usually can give me the answer.
- Type annotations for code that might change is a lifesaver, because when I change it later on I now get a bunch of conflicts where I've used it using the old way.
- Feel free to add annotations where it makes sense and is easy, and if something doesn't make sense or it is too hard to figure out the right type, you can skip it and still gain the benefits of using it elsewhere.
- Annotations don't "force you to think about types", you already are thinking about types. They let you think a bit less about types I would argue, because they're documented in function calls and returns. "Can I read() from input_file, or do I need to open()read()?" "input_file:Path" makes it better documented, without encoding the object type in the name.
I'm coming up on 30 years of using Python, and I never really missed typing, but honestly I write basically all of my new code with annotations because of the IDE benefits I get from it. I love that the Python implementation allows me to get the benefits without forcing it on me. In my distant past I very much loved coding in C, but was quite happy with Python's lack of strict typing. This feels like a good middle-ground.