Zen of Python

The Zen of Python is a collection of 20 software principles that influences the design of Python Programming Language,^[1] only 19 of which were written around June 1999 by Tim Peters.^[2][3] The principal text is released into public domain.^[4]

Zen of Python is written as an informational entry number 20 in Python Enhancement Proposals (PEP), and can be found on the official Python website. It is also included as an easter egg in Python interpreter, which would be displayed by entering a statement import this.^[1]

Principles

Principles are listed as follows:

• Beautiful is better than ugly.
• Explicit is better than implicit.
• Simple is better than complex.
• Complex is better than complicated.
• Flat is better than nested.
• Sparse is better than dense.
• Readability counts.
• Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
• Although practicality beats purity.
• Errors should never pass silently.
• Unless explicitly silenced.
• In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
• There should be one— and preferably only one —obvious way to do it.
• Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
• Now is better than never.
• Although never is often better than right now.
• If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
• If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
• Namespaces are one honking great idea—let's do more of those!

References

1. "Code Style". The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python. 2015-11-18.
2. http://www.wefearchange.org/2010/06/import-this-and-zen-of-python.html
3. https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/1999-June/001951.html
4. Tim Peters (2015-11-18) [2004]. "PEP20 -- The Zen of Python".

External links

• PEP20 on Python website