Attack a sacred Python Cow

Bruno Desthuilliers bdesth.quelquechose at free.quelquepart.fr
Sun Jul 27 14:58:16 EDT 2008


Jordan a écrit :
(snip)

about Python Zen:

> Perhaps we're just looking at an instance of a wider problem - smart
> people boil good ideas down into short slogans, which are nice and
> memorable and somewhat helpful, but can lead to bad consequences when
> lots of others start overusing or misunderstanding them.

This is true for just each and every "golden rule" in programming - like 
"goto are evil", "globals are evil", "side effects are evil", "early 
returns are evil",  "public attributes are evil", etc... If you blindly 
apply any rule without understanding the rationales behind it, then 
you're into cargo-cult thinking. And once you understand the reasons 
that led someone to formulate such a rule, you just don't have to bother 
about it anymore - you just use your common sense to do what seems 
appropriate in a given situation.



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