Earlier quoted context omitted.
> pyflakes and a few tests find a great majority (not all) of errors devs actually have. No they don't. First of all people are really bad at writing tests. Secondly, writing tests sucks; I would much rather write static type annotations than tedious type checking tests: you know when to stop and you get the other benefits of static types like making the code easier to read and navigate. Every piece of code I've adde…
I’ve rescued two very large Python projects bordering on disaster, and have improved many more. In both cases the main problems were architecture-related, they were written at the wrong level of abstraction, then in the wrong language. Those need to be fixed first if you value your time. Typing errors were not a top-ten concern: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39161025 I.e. there are bugs, there are always bugs.…
You're looking at a bridge made of wet cardboard and saying you shouldn't use FEA when designing bridges because the real problems are the fact that it's made of cardboard and it's wet.
> Also you don’t write tests just for types.
Not just. But you do have to write those tests as well if you don't use static typing. I have seen them written. Static typing reduces the number of tests you need to write. This is very very very well known.
> Black/white adolescent appeals to the one-true-way are not compelling and why you did not convince, then or now.
No, it's because you view static types as an admission that you might make mistakes and you don't want to admit that to yourself. You literally equated making typing mistakes with punching yourself in the face.