This may be the only time I weigh in on the static vs. dynamic typing discussion. Each side has its extreme proponents, and people differ in their ability and desire to work in systems with implicit invariants.

Many years ago, back when Java and C++ were the Mainstream Languages and Python was the shiny new up-and-comer, I read Bruce Eckel's arguments in support of dynamically typed languages, and some of the nonobvious (at the time) ways you can get more done at higher quality in a more flexible language.

If I recall correctly, the arguments were that type systems can be approximated with unit tests (neither subsumes the other), and the ease of getting code up and running in a dynamically-typed language outweighs the benefits static types provide, especially when (explicit) static types require more thought and commitment before the problem space has been developed and understood. That is, dynamic languages are more fluid, and you can test bits of the program even before they're made to fit with the rest of the code. In statically typed languages, on the other hand, the code must compile before it can be run at all.

Note: I feel a temptation to qualify every statement I'm making, because the programming language space has since been explored in more depth, and significantly more nuance is understood now than was in the late 90s and early 2000s. We are in the midst of a programming language renaissance.

I have some empathy for Bruce Eckel's argument. Early on in a system's life it is important to have some flexibility and "play". However, as the correct shape or factoring of the software is discovered, it becomes useful to have the computer enforce more and more invariants.

Note that some people treat static typing vs. dynamic typing as a binary switch. In reality it's a bit more of a continuum. Python will tend to throw exceptions rather than implicitly convert values. JavaScript will implicitly convert values sometimes, but not always. PHP tries to make whatever code you wrote run, even if it's nonsensical. Thus, among dynamically-typed languages, some languages tend to catch type errors sooner, simply because they're less forgiving at runtime.

IMVU's technology stack is weighted heavily towards dynamic languages. This is largely a product of the year of its birth. Everyone was writing PHP and Python in the mid 2000s. The website backend consists of a prodigious amount of PHP. The website frontend is JavaScript, because that's really the only option. The client is built out of C++ (for the engine), Python (for all the business logic), and JavaScript (for the UI).

After ten years, however, I can look back and speak with confidence about the long-term effects of building a business on top of dynamic languages.

Most of the core PHP APIs from IMVU's early years are still around. And they're terrible. They're terrible but they're "impossible" to change, because the iteration time on running all the tests, verifying in production, and so on is never worth the smallish, indirect benefits of improving the APIs. Obviously, nothing is impossible, but relying on a giant test suite and test infrastructure to prove the correctness of renaming a function or adding a parameter, in practice, is a significant coefficient of friction on the software's ability to evolve over time.

Not improving core APIs results in a kind of broken windows effect. When APIs are confusing or vague, people tend not to notice other confusing or vague APIs, and it slows everyone down in the long term.

Thus, instead of easily refactoring the legacy APIs, people think "I'll just make a new one and migrate the code over!" And now you have two hard-to-change APIs. And then three. And the cycle continues. Additionally, this cycle is fed by architect types who know or think they know a better way to do things, but can't be bothered to update the old systems.

With a type system (such as in C++, Go, Haskell, or Java), the iteration time on renaming a function or changing its signature is a single build. In Haskell, it's even better: simply type ":r" into ghci and see all the places where the code needs to be updated. That is, a type system flattens the cost of change curve. Small API or performance improvements that otherwise wouldn't be worth it suddenly are, because the compiler can quickly tell you all the places that need to be updated. You don't need to run all the tests across the history of the company in order to see whether you've missed a spot.

There's another huge cost of dynamic languages. It has to do with engineers building an understanding of existing systems. For all the mental energy spent on whitespace and curly braces, the most important component of understanding software is grasping data flow. Programs exist to transform data, and understanding how that's done is paramount. Types accelerate the process of building a mental understanding of the program, especially when lightweight types such as CustomerId (vs. Int) are used.

I can't say I regret IMVU building its technology on top of PHP or Python or JavaScript but I now believe that the long-term reduction in agility is not worth the short-term benefits, especially given the plethora of other options: Java, Go, Haskell, perhaps F# or some other ML, and so on.

I wonder how Facebook feels on this topic. :)