[kettro]

I find python quite hard to read, honestly. The lack of typing in most python means that it isn’t immediately clear what a given piece of code does without diving into its implementation. You have to rely on docstrings (good luck) or descriptive naming.

The issue with null pointers is that they are, as you said, a stand-in for an invalid state. However, most null pointers don’t prevent you from trying to use the underlying data, which can, among other things, cause crashes (think not checking the return value of malloc). Additionally, it doesn’t make formal the litany of possible forms that a value can take — if you codify possible states, then you don’t always need to check everything. I’m currently working to port security firmware from C to Rust, and I’ve found I make fewer state checks, because the data I’m working with has bounded state — the data given cannot be in an invalid state.

[harkinian]

Types really only help when they're primitives. You're going to have a million random classes that are only used in a few places. Seeing `ConfigManagerFactory config_manager_factory` doesn't help. What helps is avoiding excessive oop and making sure objects are printable for debug, imo something Javascript does a lot better.

Re null pointers, in Java or Python they raise an exception. Isn't that ok? It doesn't end up doing something invalid like in C.