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The Zen of Python

2:32 with Kenneth Love

While PEP 8 is all about the rules for structuring your code, PEP 20 is all about the inspiration behind how you write your Python. Sure, you need to solve a problem, but if you can solve it beautifully, that's even better.

You can read PEP 20 online or by running import this in your Python shell.

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    Guiding the poetry of Python, PEP 20 is written in verse. 0:00
    PEP 20, or The Zen of Python, influences a lot of how you think about Python code. 0:04
    It's actually an Easter egg in Python itself that you can access from 0:10
    inside any Python shell. 0:12
    Let's check it out. 0:14
    So, I'm just in my Python shell and I want to import the library this. 0:15
    This is actually almost kind of a, a joke or an Easter egg. 0:20
    I'll let you read the whole thing for 0:24
    yourself on your own computer or in workspaces. 0:25
    But we're going to talk about some of the more important lines, 0:28
    not necessarily in any specific order. 0:31
    Explicit is better than implicit. 0:34
    Python doesn't like to do things in the background. 0:36
    The language was designed so 0:38
    that you have to specify what you want to do all the time. 0:40
    This is why, for example, you can't add numbers to strings. 0:44
    That would require changing the string to a number or 0:47
    the number to a string behind the scenes. 0:49
    This goes against Python's rule of avoiding implicit actions. 0:53
    Readability counts. 0:56
    Going along with rules of PEP 8, Python wants to be readable. 0:58
    Anytime you find yourself trying to figure out what a chunk of code does, 1:01
    not because you haven't seen the functions before, but because you can't tell which 1:05
    variable's which, it's a good sign that you need more readable code. 1:08
    White space and well-named variables, functions and 1:13
    classes all lead to better readability. 1:15
    Why worry about formatting when you can just add in comments? 1:18
    Comments are where the insanity goes. 1:21
    Clean code doesn't need nearly as many explanatory comments. 1:23
    Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules. 1:27
    This is advice to use similar approaches to similar problems. 1:30
    This is also the reason that Python uses, say, the len function to get the length of 1:34
    things instead of relying on each type to give its own solution to that problem. 1:38
    It's the same for looping over items, deleting variables and 1:42
    collection members, and many other common scenarios. 1:45
    This rule has a corollary though, that practicality beats purity. 1:49
    It's better to have a practical solution than one that 1:52
    fits some false ideal of perfection. 1:55
    Beautiful is better than ugly. 1:58
    And lastly, my favorite and one of my reasons for 2:00
    sticking with Python over every other language I've investigated, 2:02
    your code should be pleasant to look at and read. 2:06
    Following PEP 8 will help with this a lot. 2:08
    No one wants to wade through a mess of single-letter variables, deeply-nested for 2:11
    loops and conflicting comments just to fix a bug. 2:15
    Coding should be pleasant. 2:18
    Hopefully, these few tidbits, along with the rest of PEP 20, 2:20
    will help you to write more pleasant Python code. 2:23
    If you need to see the list again, just run import this in your Python shell. 2:25
    Now let's get back to more utilitarian topics. 2:30

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