1.8. The Zen of Python

As mentioned many times, this course is opinionated. But why should my opinion matter? The answer to this question is up to you. Less opinionated and greatly phrased is the “Zen of Python” by Tim Peters, one of the core contributors to the Python language. The “Zen of Python” has been published as PEP 20 and is available from within each Python interpreter:

>>> import this
The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

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!

Although explicitly covering the design principles of Python, many of these aphorisms have value beyond the Python language. Hence, regularly reading and reflecting these lines, particularly in light of your own code, is definitely a good idea.