No, its allegedly for reliability reasons - if it compiles then you should never get a runtime eror due to the wrong kind of object being passed. I used to believe passionately in that principle, now, after using Python I'm not so convinced it matters as much as I thought. THe type conversion functions in Java(and C++) can do funny things to data that bring their own problems!
So it's protecting me from my own bad programming? Does that have to be built into a compiler? Couldn't it be an optional switch and I wear my bad code if it fails? *mutter*
This is kind of a hot topic in the world of programming right now - the question of whether static typing and type declarations actually do lead to more correct programming. The jury is still out. Actually it's hot in the Python world as well - Guido has proposed some kind of *optional* type declarations for Python.
Ah pity. I was hoping I could code for the JVM in Python style; I'd have to learn Java anyway, but I was thinking long, long term, beyond my public service walls.
That's exactly what Jython lets you do - code in Python style while targetting the Java VM at runtime. It has some warts, but generally it works well and is suitable for production use.
Kent
Regards,
Liam Clarke
_______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
