Type inference was a mistake (borretti.me)

submitted 5 months ago by SuperFola@programming.dev to c/programming_languages@programming.dev

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[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 13 points 5 months ago

Like many things... it depends.

Type inference is wonderful for prototyping and writing short lived tools - it is an unnecessary expense for mature projects with a large number of developers on it.

At my shop we have a concept of "one off" routes that are written to accomplish a specific task and intended to be run once. A few of these are run repeatedly but with the understanding that these routes are unmaintained and exempt from automated testing requirements (we've got a separate bucket for routes that are only rarely invoked but are complex enough and frequently enough used to get test coverage). For stuff like those one off scripts I'll never block a PR for omitting typing - while I absolutely will in our regular codebase.

[-] SuperFola@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

I entirely agree. It all depends on context, preferences, goal and probably other things.

I found the article interesting even though I don't entirely agree with all of it!

this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024

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Programming Languages

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