I think it's pretty disappointing that most of the top comments don't talk about the interview with Guido himself over the history of Python. Tangentially related discussion is one of the appeals of HN but I think it's a bit out of control here.
And of all the bugs I have written in recent memory, not one came down to a lack of static typing. They were due simply to logic errors, flawed assumptions, misunderstood requirements, and good old race conditions. The static typing zealots like to think if it compiles is must be perfect, however this is a mirage. Unit tests in Python can compensate quite well for lack of static typing.
I can't imagine anyone has ever tried to do engineering at scale (people wise) and did not find the value in static typing.
It's why startups eventually moved off RoR once they started scaling. It's why there is such a large push to type JavaScript (have you seen the rollbar article about the top 10 errors in JavaScript? All but one have to do with types: https://rollbar.com/blog/top-10-javascript-errors/), it's why Facebook created Hack, and outside of parentheses repulsion, it's probably why so few large projects have been written in a LISP or LISP descendant.
Python is great for small: small teams, small organizations, small projects with a few dedicated tasks, small scripting tasks. Most people aren't trying to take anything away from python here in the comments save a few irrational responses.
*again want to stress in my comment when I speak of scale I mean scaling people wise: more organizational structures in your company, more engineers, more collaboration between teams.
Python typing is quite similar to Flow, a JavaScript type checker.
I thought it was because of Ruby's poor performance characteristics.
> 1. Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property If you’re a JavaScript developer, you’ve probably seen this error more than you care to admit. This one occurs in Chrome when you read a property or call a method on an undefined object.
Does typing stop null object errors in JS, Java or C for that matter? No. You need to continually check for null objects in all langs I use including Python. It seems most of the bugs on that page are of a similar vein.
>why so few large projects have been written in a LISP or LISP descendant
The major dialect of Lisp, Common Lisp, is strongly typed, and many large projects have been written in it, for CAD/CAM, controlling a NASA spaceship, complete operating systems (Open Genera), the Mirai 3D graphics suite used for creating Gollum in "the lord of the rings", etc.