That's the thing though, there are lots of papers that support both sides of the argument out there. For example, take this http://macbeth.cs.ucdavis.edu/lang_study.pdf large scale study of GitHub projects. In the study, Clojure is right up there for correctness with hardcore statically typed languages like Haskell.
There's plenty of software written in both typing disciplines in the wild. Yet, nobody managed to conclusively demonstrate that software written in statically typed languages is produced faster and with less overall defects or that it has lower maintenance cost. The very fact that we're still having these debates says volumes in my opinion.
Majority of arguments regarding benefits of static typing appear to be rooted squarely in anecdotal evidence.
I agree with this comment of yours but the first one has a few overstatements and that prompted my reply.
Also if you feel that strong types slow you down I suggest you try some gradually typed language where you can start out without types, do the exploring and add the types when you know what you want. I've tried this in TypeScript and it was a fairly good experience.
It wasn't my intention to overstate the benefits of dynamic typing, just to point out that static typing isn't just a free lunch. I think yogthos sums up the situation pretty well.
Probably based on personal experience. For me, whenever I start a project from scratch I usually start with the most dynamic environment I can find, then hack away until I have something that resembles the functionality I need, before locking it down. In the beginning of a project I don't care if something is 100% correct, I just want to see what my idea looks like, and what I actually need. I don't want to deal with synchronizing my types with a database schema, or make sure the JSON I send to the server satisfy the type system. I really don't care about interfaces or abstract classes or whatnot, I just want to retrieve the value I know to be in the object I got. Then, when I have a working'ish prototype, I can start nailing it down with types, assertions, tests and contracts.
Of course, people are different. Some people do all of this on paper before writing a single line of code. Others plan by making types and interfaces, then proceed to implement those. I just like making prototypes.
"Some people do all of this on paper before writing a single line of code. Others plan by making types and interfaces, then proceed to implement those. I just like making prototypes."
Of these, I sound the most like you - think just a little, then sit down and start coding to get a feel for things.
Yet I find a good type system essential (or at least conspicuously missing when I write Python). There is a notion that, if one has static type checking, one has to get the types right before writing code. There's no reason that has to be the case. Get a sketch, start writing code, refine your sketch. With type inference, the sketch can even be somewhat incomplete and still help me find where my assumptions clash.
