Elliptical Python Programming

Summary

Elliptical Python Programming By Susam Pal on 10 Apr 2025 One thing I love about Python is how it comes with its very own built-in zen. In moments of tribulations, when I am wrestling with crooked code and tangled thoughts, I often find solace in its timeless wisdom. Here's a glimpse of the clarity it provides: $ python3 -m this | grep e- There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it. Indeed, there is one and only one obvious way to write the number 1 in Python, like so: >>> --(...==...) 1 You may, quite naturally, place several ones adjacently to produce larger integers: >>> --(...==...)--(...==...) 2 And so on, ad infinitum, or until your heap collapses like a poorly made soufflé. Now, the "pre-decrement operator" at the beginning is entirely optional, much like the plus sign when you write "+5 biscuits" in a letter to your grandmother. It's not wrong, but it is unnecessary and, frankly, a bit pretentious. So unless you want to look peculiar to your colleagues, you would likely want to adopt a more conventional style, such as this: >>> (...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...) 3 Now, all computer programs are, in some sense, just a long, earnest stream of bits. It is currently fashionable to bundle these bits into groups of eight and write them as integers. Following this trend, we can compute absolutely anything that is computable as long as we know exactly what integers to write. Now, I wouldn't want to bore you with the finer details of computer science – not in this day and age – fascinating as they may be. I trust you are quite capable of drawing the rest of the f... well, feathered, nocturnal bird. Once you've grasped the basics, a typical first Python program might look something like this: exec('%c'*((...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...))*((...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...))%(((...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...))*((...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...)--(...==...))*((...==...)--(...==...)-...