Programming Python, 3rd Edition

Python Philosophy 101

In the Preface, I mentioned that Python emphasizes concepts such as quality, productivity, portability, and integration. Since these four terms summarize most of the reasons for using Python, I’d like to define them in a bit more detail.

Software quality

Python makes it easy to write software that can be understood, reused, and modified. It was deliberately designed to raise development quality expectations in the scripting world. Python’s clear syntax and coherent design, for example, almost force programmers to write readable code—a critical feature for software that may be changed or reused by others in the future.

Of equal importance, because the Python language tries to do better, so too do Python developers and the Python community at large. In the Python world, one finds a refreshing focus on quality concepts such as simplicity, explicitness, and readability—ideas often given little more than a passing glance in some camps. (For more on this Python-inspired mindset, see the sidebar "The Python ‘Secret Handshake’,” near the end of this chapter.)

The Python language really does look like it was designed and not accumulated. It has an orthogonal, explicit, and minimalist design that makes code easy to understand and easy to predict. Python approaches complexity by providing a simple core language and splitting application-specific tools into a large set of modular library components.

As a popular slogan attests, the result is that Python "fits your brain ...