Principle: Explicit is better than implicit (Zen of Python applied broadly)

Code that relies on implicit behavior, magic conventions, or hidden side effects is hard to understand, debug, and maintain.

Prefer explicit, visible behavior over magic:

1. Explicit dependencies over global state:

Bad: def process(): db = get_global_db()
Good: def process(db: Database):

1. Explicit error handling over silent failures:

Bad: result = api_call() or default_value
Good: result = api_call(); if result is None: raise ValueError('API returned None')

1. Explicit configuration over convention:

Bad: Class name UserSerializer auto-maps to User model
Good: class UserSerializer: model = User

1. Named arguments over positional:

Bad: create_user('Alice', True, False, 30)
Good: create_user(name='Alice', admin=True, active=False, age=30)

1. Explicit imports over wildcard:

Bad: from utils import *
Good: from utils import validate_email, format_name

1. Return values over side effects:

Bad: process(data) # mutates data in place, returns None
Good: result = process(data) # returns new data, original unchanged

Explicit code can be understood by reading it. Implicit code requires knowing conventions, framework magic, or runtime behavior.