[paul-woolcock]

That strikes me as very Pythonic attitude. If you're going to fail, fail early. But, I know Python way better than Ruby, so it might very well be a Ruby thing too.

[aneisf]

I'm not sure if it's Pythonic as I've never written Python. It's a habit I carried over from the .NET world, actually.

[mgurlitz]

Wouldn't the Pythonic thing be to only fail after you've tried, instead of validating your parameters in advance?

[agentultra]

Yes. It's easier to beg for forgiveness than to look before you leap. You just use your parameters regardless of types and let the exceptions fly.

[DeepDuh]

Is that really Pythonic? Isn't that just general best practice in programming?