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== The Larger Set of Not-So-Good Solutions | == The Larger Set of Not-So-Good Solutions == |
Discussion
Perl coders are proud that Perl's motto is "There's more than one way to do it."BR In comparison, Python is sometimes stereotyped as "There's only one way to do it", but this is of course not true. The Zen of Python, accessed via
import this
includes the maxims:BR Beautiful is better than ugly.BR Explicit is better than implicit.BR Simple is better than complex.BR Complex is better than complicated.BR Flat is better than nested.BR Sparse is better than dense.BR Readability counts.BR If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.BR There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.BR
The net effect is that there is a limited set of good solutions for a given problem, and user are strongly encouraged to use them.
While Python attempts to discourage bad practices, and its indentation-based block structure and limited anonymous blocks (lambdas) make certain techniques difficult, it is possible to produce many more bad solutions than good for a given problem. This page attempts to demonstrate this for the benefit of non-users, and should be linked to when incorrect claims of Python's limitations are made.
Please Feel Free to extend with more examples.
The Problem
Q: How do I write code for a signature block (up to four lines of 78 characters each) that prints "Just another Pythoneer" to screen?
The Limited Set of Good Solutions
1 print "Just another Pythoneer"
(Though someone may point out that as a Python user following correct Pythonic practice, you are more correctly a Pythonista... and give you a brief 6000 word essay on the historical debate over the naming of Python Users and the etymology of the root Python and the stem -ista... and advise you against using the combination in an impromptu Spanish examination)
The Larger Set of Not-So-Good Solutions
1 print "Just", "another", "Pythoneer"
1 print '''%s %s %s''' % ("Just", "another", "Pythoneer")
1 import sys; sys.stdout.write("Just another Pythoneer\n")
1 print "reenohtyP rehtona tsuJ"[::-1]
1 import pickle; print pickle.loads("S'Just another Pythoneer'\012p0\012.")
1 import sys; [sys.stdout.write(c) for c in "Just another Pythoneer\n"]
1 #Sometimes_code_does_not_really_need_to_have_syntacally_significant_whitespace
2 G,U,N=range(3),"Why don't I use Java or Perl?",lambda(x),y:reduce(x.__add__,y)
3 print"".join([U[P:H+P]for(P,H)in(zip([16,12,8,19,6,5,8,1,25,23,2,8,1,5,14,25],
4 N(list,N(tuple,[([D],N(list,[[1+C%2]*(C+1)for(C)in(G)]))for(D)in(G)])[1:])))])
1 print "".join([x for x in list('reenohtyP rehtona tsuJ')[::-1]])
1 print "".join([x for x in list('reenohtyP rehtona tsuJ')][::-1])
1 print "Just another Pythoneer and not a Perl Hacker".split(" and")[0]
1 print "I'm just another Pythoneer".split(" ",1)[1].capitalize()