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Comment by mchahn | Hacker News Reader

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mchahn·

Why can't Python have transpilers like JS does? Adding types to Python like Typescript could be a good thing.

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I feel like JS mainly has transpilers because people are locked in to the language, which is not true of python

People that choose Python are "locked in" to a language that doesn't have static typing.

You are missing the point. People that choose Python do just that, they choose Python. The use of JS is very often not a matter of choice, because it's the only language supported in browsers.

Exactly, there is a difference between torture (JavaScript) and masochism (Python).

People that choose Python _chose_ a language that doesn't have static typing.

People that want to write code that runs in a Web browser are locked in to Javascript, so they're "locked in" to JS; I can't think of a platform where the only option is to use Python.

Mods for Civ IV? :P

i'm pretty sure js transpilers are a symptom of having to support many js environments and js versions but folks wanting to have access to current language features anyway. people have made this too for python and it's called `3to2`, which is a backwards version of the `2to3` language upgrade tool.

babeljs for example used to be called `6to5` so i don't think it's lockin that causes this desire, but it's certainly true that the options for clientside programming languages that are widely deployed are fairly slim. i don't think they're related though.

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