• Here is the wiki link and the Python Enhancement Proposal Page which provides the background and sets out the Zen of Python. Essentially, Zen of Python are a set of 19 aphorisms penned by long time Python developer Tim Peters which influence the design of the Python programming language. These are also visible as an easter egg in Python interpreter by typing import this.

This resonated well with me because most of these principles should also be the guiding principles for drafting legal agreements. In practice though, lawyers tend to take an exact opposite approach, either by design or default.

A few of these guiding principles which I believe lawyers should internalise are set out below:

  • Explicit is better than Implicit

  • Simple is better than complex

  • Complex is better than complicated

  • Flat is better than nested

  • Readability counts

  • Errors should never pass silently.

  • Unless explicitly silenced.

  • In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.

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

  • Now is better than never.

  • Although never is often better than “right” now.