Zen of Python
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Zen of Python is a collection of 19 "guiding principles" for writing
computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and oth ...
s that influence the design of the Python
programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...
.
Software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...
Tim Peters wrote this set of principles and posted it on the Python mailing list in 1999. Peters's list left open a 20th principle "for Guido to fill in", referring to
Guido van Rossum Guido van Rossum (; born 31 January 1956) is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python programming language, for which he was the "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL) until he stepped down from the position on 12 July 2018 ...
, the original author of the Python language. The vacancy for a 20th principle has not been filled. Peters's Zen of Python was included as entry number 20 in the language's official
Python Enhancement Proposal Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation. Python is dynamically-typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming par ...
s and was released into the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...
. It is also included as an
Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
in the Python interpreter, where it can be displayed by entering import this. In May 2020, Barry Warsaw wrote the lyrics to music.


Principles

The principles are listed as follows:


See also

*
Convention over configuration Convention over configuration (also known as coding by convention) is a software design paradigm used by software frameworks that attempts to decrease the number of decisions that a developer using the framework is required to make without necessa ...
*
There's more than one way to do it There's more than one way to do it (TMTOWTDI or TIMTOWTDI, pronounced ''Tim Toady'') is a Perl programming motto. The language was designed with this idea in mind, in that it “doesn't try to tell the programmer how to program.” As proponents of ...


Notes


References


External links


PEP20 on Python website
2004 essays Essays about computing Programming principles Python (programming language) {{Essay-stub