What is meant by the use of type annotations in Python code and how do they assist in development?

Type annotations in Python are a way to explicitly specify the expected types of variables, function parameters, and return values. They do not affect the execution of the program but help to:

• Improve code readability by showing what data types are expected.
• Allow static analyzers (e.g., mypy) to check type correctness before runtime.
• Facilitate teamwork and code maintenance.

Example of using type annotations:

def greet(name: str) -> str:
    return 'Hello, ' + name

age: int = 25

Here, it is indicated that the greet function takes a string and returns a string, and the variable age is an integer.