@mdhughes You seem to be conflating two things. Having a type system doesnt automatically prevent null references. I mean, some languages may work like that, and that would be great. But to take Java, for example, since it’s he one I know best: checking for null values is depressingly the norm.
That said, I find the idea of setting a variable without specifying — or maybe even knowing — its type, to be... worrying, let’s say.
@mdhughes The thing with BDSM, though, is that there’s always someone dominating and someone submitting. I don’t see myself being dominated by generics: I’m using them to enforce my will. This Collection can only have Strings in it, or it’s going to be inserious trouble.
@mdhughes Fair enough. I still prefer to specify the type, I think.
Now, don’t get me started on the lack of a compiler in scripting languages. I think that’s a blog post I’ll soon be writing.
@mdhughes Sure. I've been using some R lately, and it's so frustrating that you have to deploy and run a test just to find a syntax error. IDEs should help, but R doesn't seem to have great support.