<i>I programmed exclusively in Java while getting my BS in CS, and I have programmed nearly exclusively in PHP since.</i><p>How does this person have the audacity to criticize Python? And why are we all reading it?<p><i>In a language whose core mantra is "make is simple, make it short" throwing away the implied "this" seems particularly disgusting.</i><p>Author: If you want to learn Python's <i>real</i> mantra, try typing "import this" in the interactive shell. One of the lines you'll read is "Explicit is better than implicit," which should give you a clue as to why there is no "implied this" in Python.<p>In general, you should be more of an expert on programming languages than Guido if you want to write this type of critique of the language -- especially in such a condescending tone.