If a person like that is able to harm the team, I'd argue that it's a management problem. Lazy coding is only an issue when you allow people to be lazy...
I think you could make the same argument about code styling or really just about anything. If you had sufficiently quality coworkers, these things probably wouldn't be an issue, but it's a lot easier to just implement the technical solution (a code formatter or type checker).
You seem to think the debate is about whether typing alone can deter lazy employees from wreaking havoc, or otherwise solving broad organizational problems. No one claimed anything like that.
The claim is very narrow: typing can inhibit certain kinds of bad code and guide people toward better solutions. Whether someone is writing bad code because they're lazy or inexperienced, typing keeps some of the bad code from entering the code base.
Of course it's not a replacement for good management, hiring practices, etc.
> typing can inhibit certain kinds of bad code and guide people toward better solutions
I argue that somebody who would try something like your example above is either lazy or trying to wreak havoc. In my experience, people like that won't be deterred by strict typing, they'll keep typing nonsense and copying dangerous lines from StackOverflow until the thing outputs what they want. Having them write code that's complicated or important enough to require typing checks will result in disaster anyway, the only solution is to keep them out of the codebase, or review (and often rewrite) all their work.
I agree that typing is a very good guardrail for well-intentioned people with a minimum of competence, but in that case there's nothing to lose by making typing optional: they'll follow it anyway, and the added flexibility is often useful when well-used.
An inexperienced dev who wants to learn also won't need to be forced to follow typing guidelines, we just have to explain it to them...
> An inexperienced dev who wants to learn also won't need to be forced to follow typing guidelines, we just have to explain it to them..
Any engineer who would be qualified to write these kinds of guidelines would tell you not to waste time drafting and enforcing guidelines because type checkers exist. And if they're a really good engineer, they'll politely rebuke you for attributing poor code quality to the author's moral character, as this is a self-limiting outlook and generally toxic behavior.
