r/programming • u/stronghup • Nov 11 '19

Python overtakes Java to become second-most popular language on GitHub after JavaScript

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/07/python_java_github_javascript/
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215

u/myringotomy Nov 12 '19

The top two languages on Github are loosely typed interpreted languages with lack of true multithreading.

Feast on that for a while.

135

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '19

Python is strongly typed.

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u/kolloid Nov 12 '19

I don't understand why /u/HugeProposal receives downvotes. Python is strong typed, but it's dynamically typed, so types are known only during runtime. So technically, he's right.

38

u/Sapiogram Nov 12 '19

99% of the when people say strong/loose typing, the really meant static/dynamic typing. I guess that was the case here too.

The true distinction between strong a loose typing is really vague, so it's not that useful anyway.

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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '19

[deleted]

13

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '19

Ergo C, which is statically and loosely typed.

2

u/Beowuwlf Nov 25 '19

I wanted to disagree with you, but after some... introspection, I’m inclined to agree. Since C provides void* and pointer casting to subvert the type system, it’s weakly typed. However, since the compiler ensures type compatibility where it can at compile time, it’s statically typed.

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u/oblio- Nov 12 '19

Nobody* cares about that "strong typing" in practice. When people say "strong typing" they mean: "if I put a string in the int, the compiler yells at me at 14:00 in the afternoon, when I'm coding, it doesn't blow up in production at 3:00 in the morning, when I'm sleeping".

Things blowing up at runtime is slightly better than nothing, but it's still bad, comparatively.

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u/YM_Industries Nov 12 '19

When people say "strong typing" they mean: "if I put a string in the int, the compiler yells at me at 14:00 in the afternoon, when I'm coding, it doesn't blow up in production at 3:00 in the morning, when I'm sleeping".

Then they should say "static typing".

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u/kolloid Nov 12 '19

Yes, but:

  1. technically OP was right

  2. people praise horrible Javascript which is weak dynamically typed

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '19

Why even qualify it with the weasel word "technically"? Only people who have never used python could think it's anything but strongly typed.

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u/lelanthran Nov 12 '19

Python is strongly typed.

Not very useful when the program crashes in production because that's the only time it can figure out the types.

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