5 ms·

> Python especially, with its "one way to do it" Despite being a core tenet of the language, Python is _really, really_ bad at following that rule. I agree wit

by spyspy 9y ago

> Python especially, with its "one way to do it" Despite being a core tenet of the language, Python is _really, really_ bad at following that rule. I agree with everything else you're saying, though. Those are still Python idioms even if they originated elsewhere.

codetrotter 9y ago
How so? Comprehensions vs loops vs recursive functions vs in some cases map/reduce/filter is the only example I can think of.
- strkek 9y ago
  There's also strings. 'foo ' + bar 'foo {}'.format(bar) 'foo %s' % bar f'foo {bar}'
  - BerislavLopac 9y ago
    As well as the string templates almost nobody knows about (https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/string.html#template-strings https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/string.html#template-str...): Template('$foo bar').substitute(foo='foo')
davidcuddeback 9y ago
I think people take the "one way to do it" tenet a little too seriously. It comes from PEP20 [1], which to me seems to have a more jestful than dogmatic tone: > 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. If I remember my history correctly, this was poking fun as Perl's "TIMTOWTDI" [2]. It also says one obvious way to do it. It doesn't preclude there being more than one way. [1] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_more_than_one_way_to_do_it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_more_than_one_way_to...
- jerf 9y ago
  In 2004, "There should be only one way to do it" was a more realistic goal. 2004 puts us at Python 2.4 or so, but I think that's just when it got formalized into a PEP, it was around for a while before then. If we step back two years to 2002, we get to Python 2.1. We are now pre-generators, pre-with statement, pre-itertools, pre-decorators, and a lot of other things (useful itertools, etc.). There more often was only one sensible way to do a thing. Python evolved, but PEP20 didn't.
  - davidcuddeback 9y ago
    > 2004 puts us at Python 2.4 or so, but I think that's just when it got formalized into a PEP I didn't notice the date on the PEP, but I think you're right. I remember reading it when I learned Python circa 2002. Found this (from 1999): https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/1999-June/001951.html https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/1999-June/0019....
xapata 9y ago
The "obvious way" changes over time, as the language improves.

by spyspy 9y ago

codetrotter 9y ago

How so? Comprehensions vs loops vs recursive functions vs in some cases map/reduce/filter is the only example I can think of.

strkek 9y ago
There's also strings. 'foo ' + bar 'foo {}'.format(bar) 'foo %s' % bar f'foo {bar}'
- BerislavLopac 9y ago
  As well as the string templates almost nobody knows about (https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/string.html#template-strings https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/string.html#template-str...): Template('$foo bar').substitute(foo='foo')

davidcuddeback 9y ago

I think people take the "one way to do it" tenet a little too seriously. It comes from PEP20 [1], which to me seems to have a more jestful than dogmatic tone: > 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. If I remember my history correctly, this was poking fun as Perl's "TIMTOWTDI" [2]. It also says one obvious way to do it. It doesn't preclude there being more than one way. [1] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_more_than_one_way_to_do_it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_more_than_one_way_to...

jerf 9y ago
In 2004, "There should be only one way to do it" was a more realistic goal. 2004 puts us at Python 2.4 or so, but I think that's just when it got formalized into a PEP, it was around for a while before then. If we step back two years to 2002, we get to Python 2.1. We are now pre-generators, pre-with statement, pre-itertools, pre-decorators, and a lot of other things (useful itertools, etc.). There more often was only one sensible way to do a thing. Python evolved, but PEP20 didn't.
- davidcuddeback 9y ago
  > 2004 puts us at Python 2.4 or so, but I think that's just when it got formalized into a PEP I didn't notice the date on the PEP, but I think you're right. I remember reading it when I learned Python circa 2002. Found this (from 1999): https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/1999-June/001951.html https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/1999-June/0019....

xapata 9y ago

The "obvious way" changes over time, as the language improves.