Q: What does "Sparse is better than dense" mean? (Python Zen)

[Andrae Muys]

aahz at pythoncraft.com (Aahz) wrote in message news:<agkj5s$gka$1 at panix1.panix.com>...
> In article <33803989.0207110328.5ef01f1e at posting.google.com>,
> Miki Tebeka <tebeka at cs.bgu.ac.il> wrote:
> >
> >Although it's in the Humor section I take the Python Zen
> >(http://www.python.org/doc/Humor.html#zen) quite seriously.
> >However I can understand what does “Sparse is better than
> >dense” means.
> 
> To rephrase the dictum another way, "Don't try to stick too much code on
> one line."

Well seeing as we are discussing Python Zen, the one I don't currently
understand is "Flat is better than Nested".  I had always thought the
opposite was the case, hence "Namespaces are one honking great idea --
let's do more of those! ".  Can anyone explain the distinction?

Andrae