DEV Community: Ido David

Python Typing vs. TypeScript

Ido David — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:08:33 +0000

Python Typing vs. TypeScript: It’s Not Just About Syntax

For developers moving between the worlds of Web and Backend, the "type system" conversation usually starts with a shrug: "They both have type hints now, right?"

Not exactly.

While both languages aim to tame the chaos of dynamic code, they have fundamentally different DNA. If you’re coming from TypeScript, you’ll find Python’s type system surprisingly "rigid" in its logic but "flexible" in its execution. Here is the tactical breakdown of how they actually differ.

1. The Execution Gap: Compile-time vs. Runtime

The most jarring difference for a TS dev is that Python doesn't care about your types.

TypeScript is a gatekeeper. If your types don't align, the TSC (TypeScript Compiler) stops you at the door. At runtime, the types are erased; they don't exist in the generated JavaScript.
Python is a librarian. It records your type hints in metadata (the __annotations__ attribute), but the interpreter ignores them during execution. You need an external tool like Mypy or Pyright to actually catch errors.

The Tactical Win for Python: Because types persist as metadata, libraries like Pydantic can use them to perform real-time data validation. In TS, you often need a separate schema library (like Zod) to do what Python does natively with type hints.

2. Structural vs. Nominal: "Duck" vs. "Brand"

This is the "philosophy" divide:

TypeScript is Structural: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. If two interfaces have the same properties, they are interchangeable.
Python is Nominal (by default): Even if two classes look identical, Python treats them as different types because they have different names.

To get "TypeScript-style" behavior in Python, you have to explicitly use typing.Protocol.

3. What TypeScript Can Do (That Python Can't)

If you’re used to "Type-Level Programming," Python will feel like it’s missing a few gears. TypeScript is essentially a functional language that operates on types:

Mapped Types

In TS, you can transform types dynamically:

type PartialUser = Partial<User>; // Automatically makes all keys optional

In Python, there is no Partial. You have to manually redefine the class or use specialized library workarounds.

Template Literal Types

TS can manipulate strings at the type level:

type Protocol = "http" | "https";
type URL = `${Protocol}://localhost`; // Only allows "http://localhost" or "https://localhost"

Python’s Literal can list specific strings, but it cannot "calculate" or "concatenate" them to create new types.

Conditional Types

TS allows for "If/Then" logic in types: T extends string ? A : B. Python relies on @overload, which is more verbose and requires you to write the function signature multiple times.

4. The 2026 Roadmap: Is Python Catching Up?

Python isn't trying to become TypeScript. Instead, it’s leaning into its own strengths.

Python 3.14+ is introducing Template Strings (t-strings). While not a direct clone of TS Template Literals, they offer a structured way to handle dynamic strings that type checkers can finally understand.
The Focus on Introspection: Recent PEPs (649/749) focus on making type evaluation faster and more reliable at runtime, doubling down on the "Type-Validated Runtime" that makes Python great for APIs and Data Science.

Sharkio to the Rescue: Streamline Your API Development

Ido David — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 15:32:50 +0000

Hello beloved members of Maakaf!

Debugging your backend? debugging microservices?
Searching for hours through logs?
Spending hours on building mocks?
Spending hours on building integration tests?
Manually creating requests in Postman for hours?

I'm the co-founder of Sharkio 🦈 😁
An open-source project that is a long-standing member of Maakaf.
We are now booking short 30-minute demo calls. And would love to hear all about your daily struggles with API development and third-party API integrations.
We provide our specialized knowledge to address your problems.

No more! Sharkio is here to save you and your team 😇
Book a call with us now:
Send me a DM and we can discuss
Book a meeting using Calendly: Calendly: 30 min call

Sick of Writing Code Just for Mock Data? Try Sharkio 🚀🦈

Ido David — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 21:27:07 +0000

What is sharkio?

Sharkio is the only tool you'll ever need for API development. Sharkio is an API proxy designed as a developer tool. It will streamline your workflow, and make API development a breeze. And it integrates seamlessly and easily!

With only three easy steps. You can add new endpoints with mocked data. And you could mock existing endpoints and easily test your application.

For this tutorial let's assume that we have an API at http://example.api.com

1) Create a new proxy

Choose a port
Enter the URL of your api
Enter a name
Save and start

2) Modify you frontend to call https://sharkio.dev:5555 instead of http://example.api.com.

3) Easily create a mock

See that it works:

And that's it!!

Give it a try for free at Sharkio
Star us on Github at Sharkio
And join our community on Discord Invite link

The best API dev tool yet!

Ido David — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000

Hello fellow developers!

We are excited to share with you that Sharkio is now live!
Check it out at https://sharkio.dev

Who is this tool good for?

Fullstack developers
Microservice developers
Api developers

Popular use cases:

Everyday debugging
New team member that wants to understand the behavior of the system more easily
Complex debugging scenarios across multiple services
Easily debugging a front-end application with multiple
Easily monitoring requests made to third parties

One feature closer to MVP

Ido David — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 20:30:39 +0000

Sharkio now has an overview page for a specific service.

This is the code if anyone is interested:
https://github.com/idodav/sharkio/pull/114

Building a community for my Open Source project - Sharkio

Ido David — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 18:49:34 +0000

So far Sharkio has:
14 stars
11 forks on Github
14 users On the discord server
9 developers contributed code

I recommend anyone that is looking for contributors to share their project in this series of posts by OpenSauced.

Can't wait to see this community grow :)

If you are interested in contributing to an api development tool.

Checkout https://github.com/idodav/sharkio

Sharkio: The first contribution

Ido David — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 20:05:18 +0000

Hello world.

My name is Ido.
I am a senior software engineer. I am a programmer from a very young age. I love code and I love open source.

I wanted to share with you something that is very exciting!

Recently I created My first open source project called Sharkio. It is a developer tool that aims to help me and other Backend/API/Fullstack developers in their daily work.

I joined an awesome open source community. And very quickly developers showed interest in my project. And after a very short time they started running the project asking questions. And be more involved.

This is a dream come true for me. Sharing my vision with fellow developers. Them showing interest and seeing the potential. And them eventually contributing code.

If you want to learn more about sharkio. Please feel free to reach out to me on discord and on github:

Sharkio Github
Sharkio discord

ChatGPT: How I used it to convert http requests to cUrl

Ido David — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 20:57:38 +0000

Hello fellow developers.
So today I asked ChatGPT to write a function that converts an http requests to curl commands. And I integrated this code to my sass project.
It worked flawlessly.

This is the chat:

I modified the code a little bit for better presentation.
You can see the code I merged in this PR:
Sharkio integrate cUrl PR

And this is the result:

If you want to know more about the sass I'm developing.
Check out Sharkio on Github.

Tartigraid - progress update

Ido David — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:18:12 +0000

Another progress update!

Today I created the first version of the request page.
Here you can see all the past invocations of an http request made to you api.

Here is a preview:

Click on the desired request here:

See all the invocations for this request

AND THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS FEATURE:

You can re-execute specific invocations in order to easily develop you backend.

Upcoming features for this page include:
Automatic JSON schema/Typescript/Curl requests/OpenAPI schema generation.
You will be able to easily generate schemas and types for your http request.

Let me know in the comments if you would love to see some code/architecture blog posts.

Side project update

Ido David — Sun, 21 May 2023 20:03:30 +0000

Hello fellow developers.
I am making progress with tartigraid!!
My open source api development tool.

I finished adding support for multiple sniffers.
Now you can easily create multiple proxy sniffers with a click:

This is great if you are working with multiple services locally.
This way you could easily sniff all the request in your services. And see them in the dashboard.

Stay tuned i'll update on upcoming features!

Also if you think that this project is interesting. And you would like to contribute. Here is the link for my Github project:
https://github.com/idodav/tartigraid/issues

Tartigraid - Best api dev tool

Ido David — Mon, 01 May 2023 09:18:52 +0000

Hello fellow developers.
I started working on a new open source api dev tool called tartigraid.

TL;DR:
It is a proxy that between you api server and the clients.
The tool provides a dashboard that provides insight and tools to help you develop the best API.

I have many ideas for features that could improve the quality of the API. And the quality of life for the developers.

Some features that I thought about:

Automatic generation of open api schema
Automatic generation of test suites. And execution tools.
Automatic generation of json schema and typescript types/zod validators/types in any language.
Postman integration
Easily launch multiple proxies. For a microservice environment and provide insight on traffic between services.
Re Execute requests made to the server
Easily generate test data and execute a request

Would love to hear your thoughts especially if you have feature proposals.
And I would like it even more if you would like to contribute!!
tartigraid

DEV Community: Ido David

Python Typing vs. TypeScript

Python Typing vs. TypeScript: It’s Not Just About Syntax

1. The Execution Gap: Compile-time vs. Runtime

2. Structural vs. Nominal: "Duck" vs. "Brand"

3. What TypeScript Can Do (That Python Can't)

Mapped Types

Template Literal Types

Conditional Types

4. The 2026 Roadmap: Is Python Catching Up?

Sharkio to the Rescue: Streamline Your API Development

Top 3 questions to ask ChatGPT using AskTheCode plugin

1. Describe the architecture of the project

2. Where is file located?

3. What libraries does the client side use?

Main Libraries

State Management

UI Libraries

API and Authentication

Styling

Testing

Build and Development Tools

Other Libraries