What does Pythonic mean?

Question

On many websites I often see comments that code isn't Pythonic, or that there is a more Pythonic way to achieve the same goal.

What does Pythonic mean in this context? For example, why is

while i < someValue:
   do_something(list[i])
   i += 1

not Pythonic while

for x in list:
   doSomething(x)

is Pythonic?

Answer 1

Exploiting the features of the Python language to produce code that is clear, concise and maintainable.

Pythonic means code that doesn't just get the syntax right, but that follows the conventions of the Python community and uses the language in the way it is intended to be used.

This is maybe easiest to explain by negative example, as in the linked article from the other answers. Examples of un-Pythonic code often come from users of other languages, who instead of learning a Python programming patterns such as list comprehensions or generator expressions, attempt to crowbar in patterns more commonly used in C or Java. Loops are particularly common examples of this.

For example, in Java I might use

for(int index=0; index < items.length; index++) {
     items[index].performAction();
}

In Python we can try and replicate this using while loops, but it would be cleaner to use:

for item in items:
  item.perform_action()

Or, even a generator expression

(item.some_attribute for item in items)

So essentially when someone says something is un-Pythonic, they are saying that the code could be rewritten in a way that is a better fit for Python's coding style.

Typing import this at the command line gives a summary of Python principles. Less well known is that the source code for import this is decidedly, and by design, un-Pythonic! Take a look at it for an example of what not to do.