TIMTOWTDI stands for “There is more than one way to do it”, an approach promoted by the Perl community.

A contrasting mantra appears in the Zen of Python, a list of aphorisms which summarise the guiding principles behind Python’s design. Item number 13 states: “There should be one — and preferably only one — obvious way to do it.”

This talk discusses these apparently different philosophies. It demonstrates that Python, like Perl, borrows features from other languages. Contrary to Item 13, there is — and has always been — more than one way to do it. Obviously.