Pythonic vs. "Clean"

This provokes thought: "Pythonic".

Why does Python have a "Pythonic" style? Why not "clean"?

Is it these lines from Tim Peters' "The Zen of Python" (a/k/a import this)

There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.

Perhaps having a PEP 8, a BDFL (and FLUFL) means that there's a certain "pressure" to conform?

Or do we have higher standards than other languages? Or less intellectual diversity?

I think that "pythonic" is just a catchy phrase that rolls off the tongue. I think a similar concept exists in all languages, but there isn't a good phrase for it in most other languages. Although Ned Batchelder has some really good suggestions. (Except for C++, which should be "C-Posh-Posh" for really good coding style.)

History

When I was a COBOL programmer, there were two buzz-phrases used. "Clean" and "Structured". Clean was poorly-defined and really just a kind of cultural norm. In those days, each shop had a different opinion of "clean" and the lack of widespread connectivity meant that each shop had a more-or-less unique style. Indeed, as a traveling consultant, I helped refine and adjust those standards because of the wide variety of code I saw in my travels.

"Structured" is pretty much an absolute. Each GOTO-like thing had to be reworked as properly nested IFs or PERFORMs. No real issue there. Except from folks who argued that "Structured" was slower than non-Structured. A load of malarkey, but one I heard remarkably often.

When I was a Fortran (and Ada) programmer, I worked for the military in which there were simply absolute standards for every feature of the source code. Boring. And no catchy buzz-word. Just "Compliant" or "Wrong".

Since it was the early '90's (and we were sequestered) we didn't have much Internet access. Once in a while we'd have internal discussions on style where the details weren't covered by any standard. Not surprisingly, they amounted to "Code Golf" questions. Ada has to be perfectly clear, which can be verbose, and some folks don't like clarity.

When I become a C programmer, I found a Thomas Plum's Reliable Data Structures in C. That provided a really good set of standards. The buzzword I used was "Reliable".

The problem with C programming is that "Clean" and "Code Golf" get conflated all the time. Folks write the craziest crap, claim it's "clean" and ignore the resulting obscurity. Sigh. I wish folks with stick with "Reliable" or "Maintainable" rather than "Clean".

While doing Perl programming I noticed that some folks didn't seem to realize the golden rule.

No One Wins At Code Golf

I don't know why. Other than to think that some folks felt that Perl programs weren't "real" programs. They were just "scripts" and could be treated with a casual contempt.

When I learned Java, I noted that an objective was to have a syntax that was familiar. It was a stated goal to have the Java style guidelines completely overlap with C and C++ style guidelines. Fair enough. Doesn't solve the "Code Golf" vs. "Clean" problem. But it doesn't confound it with another syntax, either.

Python

From this history, I think that "Pythonic" exists because we have a BDFL with high standards.