Type Hints for Python 3.5

PEP 484, “Type Hints”, was accepted in time for inclusion in Python 3.5 beta 1. This introduces an optional standard for specifying types in function signatures. This concept was previously discussed as “optional static typing” and I similar to the way TypeScript adds optional type declarations to JavaScript.

In this talk I will discuss the motivation for this work and show the key elements of the DSL for describing types (which, by the way is backward compatible with Python 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4). Note: Python will remain a dynamically typed language, and I have no desire to ever make type hints mandatory, even by convention!