#539: Catching up with the Python Typing Council

Talk Python To Me

Michael Kennedy

Technology

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You're adding type hints to your Python code, your editor is happy, autocomplete is working great. But then you switch tools and suddenly there are red squiggles everywhere. Who decides what a float annotation actually means? Or whether passing None where an int is expected should be an error? It turns out there's a five-person council dedicated to exactly these questions -- and two brand-new Rust-based type checkers are raising the bar. On this episode, I sit down with three members of the Python Typing Council -- Jelle Zijlstra, Rebecca Chen, and Carl Meyer -- to learn how the type system is governed, where the spec and the type checkers agree and disagree, and get the council's official advice on how much typing is just enough.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're adding typants to your Python code.
0:02.0	Your editor is happy, auto-complete is working great,
0:05.0	but then you switch tools and suddenly there are red squigglys everywhere.
0:09.2	Who decides what a float annotation actually means?
0:12.9	Or whether passing none where an int is expected should be an error.
0:17.2	It turns out there's a five-person council dedicated to exactly these questions, and two brand-new rust-based type-checkers are raising the bar as well.
0:27.2	On this episode, I sit down with three of the members of the Python typing council, Yalla Zilstra, Rebecca Chen, and Karl Meyer, to learn about how the type system is governed, where the spec and type checkers agree and disagree, and I get the council's official advice on how much typing is just enough.
0:45.8	This is Talk Python to Me. Episode 539 recorded January 27, 2006.
0:53.2	Talk Python to me. Yeah, we ready to roll.
0:56.0	Upgrading the code.
0:58.0	No fear of getting old.
0:59.0	They sink in the air.
1:00.0	New frameworks in sight, geeky rap on deck.
1:03.0	Quark crew, it's time to unite.
1:05.0	We started in pyramid, cruising old school lanes, had that stable base, yes, sir.
1:10.0	Welcome to Talk Python, a Me, the number one Python podcast for developers and data scientists.
1:14.7	This is your host, Michael Kennedy.
1:16.4	I'm a PSF fellow who's been coding for over 25 years.
1:20.6	Let's connect on social media.
1:22.0	You'll find me and Talk Python on Macedon, Blue Sky, and X.
1:25.4	The social links are all in your show notes.
1:45.2	You can find over 10 years of past episodes at talkbython.fm. And if you want to be part of the show, you can join our recording live streams. That's right. We live stream the raw uncut version of each episode on YouTube. Just visit talk python.fm slash YouTube to see the schedule of upcoming events. Be sure to subscribe there and press the bell so you'll get notified anytime we're recording. This episode is brought
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