Simon Willison’s Weblog

Why is the Zen of Python obfuscated in the “this” module?

26th January 2012

My answer to Why is the Zen of Python obfuscated in the “this” module? on Quora

I imagine the reason is very simple: Because it’s fun!

Posted 26th January 2012 at 2:29 pm · Follow me on Mastodon, Bluesky, Twitter or subscribe to my newsletter

More recent articles

JustHTML is a fascinating example of vibe engineering in action - 14th December 2025
OpenAI are quietly adopting skills, now available in ChatGPT and Codex CLI - 12th December 2025
GPT-5.2 - 11th December 2025

This is Why is the Zen of Python obfuscated in the “this” module? by Simon Willison, posted on 26th January 2012.

python 1213 quora 1005

Next: Which angels or VCs like to invest in fitness companies?

Previous: What do you miss out on if not staying in the official hotel for PyCon (or other tech conferences)?

Monthly briefing

Sponsor me for $10/month and get a curated email digest of the month's most important LLM developments.

Pay me to send you less!

Sponsor & subscribe