> Do you really think the use of dynamically typed languages is an important enough factor to require justification?
Yes, because when you pick a dynamically typed language, you are giving up on important advantages that become crucial as your code base grows, among which:
- Type annotations, which make it easier for newcomers to understand the existing code base (and obviously, catching early errors by the compiler).
- Automatic refactorings, which guarantee that your technical debt remains at a reasonable level since it's so easy to evolve your code base as it grows. Even the simplest refactorings require human supervision in dynamically typed languages (here is a good explanation why: http://goo.gl/SKaos )
Those are consequences of not having static types; they are not consequences of having dynamic types. I have to stick up for ObjC, which has dynamic types, but enjoys the advantages you listed because it also has static types.
Yes, because when you pick a dynamically typed language, you are giving up on important advantages that become crucial as your code base grows, among which:
- Type annotations, which make it easier for newcomers to understand the existing code base (and obviously, catching early errors by the compiler).
- Automatic refactorings, which guarantee that your technical debt remains at a reasonable level since it's so easy to evolve your code base as it grows. Even the simplest refactorings require human supervision in dynamically typed languages (here is a good explanation why: http://goo.gl/SKaos )