My favorite Python WTF "feature" is that integers can have have the same reference, but only sometimes:

  >>> a = 256
  >>> b = 256
  >>> a is b
  True
  >>> a = 257
  >>> b = 257
  >>> a is b
  False
  >>> a = 257; b = 257
  >>> a is b
  True

Sometimes I think of Python as the Nash Equilibrium[a] of programming languages:

It's never the absolute best language for anything, but it's hard to improve it on any front (e.g., execution speed) without hindering it on other fronts (e.g., ad-hoc interactivity), and it's never the absolute worst language for anything. Often enough, it's good enough.

Python might well be "the least-worst language for everything."

--

[a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

`is` is for identity whereas `=` is for equality. You rarely want `is` unless you're asking if two references are the same object. This is almost exclusively used for `x is False/True`, but sometimes used to denote "missing" arguments (where true/false may be valid):

    missing = object()
    def func(a=missing):
       if a is missing:
          raise ValueError('you must pass a')

This "numbers less than 256 are the same objects" is a fairly common on the list of "wtf python" but I've never understood it. You don't use `is` like that and you would never use it in code because the operator you're using is not the right one for the thing you're trying to do.

Plus if this is the biggest wtf then that's pretty good going.

Yes, of course.

BTW, that's not the "biggest" WTF feature; it's just my favorite. There's a long list of WTF features here:

https://github.com/satwikkansal/wtfpython

Otherwise, I agree, it's a pretty good going :-)