mypy static type checking in Python
Static type checking could be one of the next feature to be included in the Python standard library. One of the main reason is that the lack of static typing is sometimes cool — you do not want to take care of it when you write small scripts — but you would be sometimes happy when your code base is growing to ensure that everything is fine without writing a test case for each line of code. So mypy is here for that.
Mypy is an experimental optional static type checker for Python that aims to combine the benefits of dynamic (or “duck”) typing and static typing.1
The second is that one of the login of the one of the main committer is gvanrossum 2–yes, Guido van Rossum himself the “Benevolent Dictator For Life” (BDFL) of Python. The project is developed at Dropbox with a secret plan in mind.
My secret plan at Dropbox is actually that once we have a large enough fraction of the code base annotated, we can start converting into Python 3 in a semi-automated fashion, in a way that would not be possible without those annotations. We’re not there yet, but that’s my secret plan. 3 What does it look like?
# Performing a specific import
from typing import Dict
d = {} # type: Dict[str, int]
d['foo'] = 1
d['bar'] = 'one'
result = d['foo'] + d['bar']
The only changes in the code above is the import and what looks like a standard comment # type: Dict[str, int]. It seems a very good practice in this case to simply say in a comment what will be accepted by the dict d. For example in order to avoid this kind of error at runtime when you do not expect it.
$ python mp.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "mp.py", line 9, in <module>
result = d['foo'] + d['bar']
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str’
It’s better and more clear to detect it before by performing this simple call.
$ mypy mp.py
mp.py:7: error: Incompatible types in assignment (expression has type "str", target has type "int")
The mypy package also provides other features–like the declaration of types for function parameters and outputs–that I will not talk about here. One of the best things is that this feature is not constraining. It can be used only where it makes sense without impacting the rest of the code. So it can live with existing part of code without any problem and be progressively integrated every time is meaningful or every time the code evolve or is reviewed.
You can freely mix static and dynamic typing within a program, within a module or within an expression. No need to give up dynamic typing — use static typing when it makes sense.1
Maybe I will dive in more details in a next post, but if you are curious about that just give it a try!
$ pip install mypy