There Is More Than One Way To Do It

E255512

Perl motto programming philosophy software development motto

"There Is More Than One Way To Do It" is a famous Perl programming motto coined by Larry Wall that celebrates flexibility and multiple valid approaches to solving problems in code.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
TMTOWTDI	2
There Is More Than One Way To Do It canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2313631 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: There Is More Than One Way To Do It
Context triple: [Larry Wall, coinedPhrase, There Is More Than One Way To Do It]

A. Considerations by the Way
"Considerations by the Way" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that reflects on practical ethics and the conduct of everyday life, included as part of his collection "The Conduct of Life."
B. There's Got to Be a Way
"There's Got to Be a Way" is a socially conscious pop and R&B song by Mariah Carey that addresses issues of poverty, racism, and the need for global unity.
C. The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working is a business and self-help book by Tony Schwartz that argues for managing energy rather than time to improve performance, health, and satisfaction at work.
D. Think Beyond the Possible
Think Beyond the Possible is the inspirational motto of Case Western Reserve University, encapsulating its emphasis on innovation, ambition, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge and discovery.
E. One Hundred Easy Ways
One Hundred Easy Ways is a comedic song from the 1953 Broadway musical Wonderful Town, known for its witty lyrics about a woman's humorous misadventures in romance.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: There Is More Than One Way To Do It
Target entity description: "There Is More Than One Way To Do It" is a famous Perl programming motto coined by Larry Wall that celebrates flexibility and multiple valid approaches to solving problems in code.

A. Considerations by the Way
"Considerations by the Way" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that reflects on practical ethics and the conduct of everyday life, included as part of his collection "The Conduct of Life."
B. There's Got to Be a Way
"There's Got to Be a Way" is a socially conscious pop and R&B song by Mariah Carey that addresses issues of poverty, racism, and the need for global unity.
C. The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working is a business and self-help book by Tony Schwartz that argues for managing energy rather than time to improve performance, health, and satisfaction at work.
D. Think Beyond the Possible
Think Beyond the Possible is the inspirational motto of Case Western Reserve University, encapsulating its emphasis on innovation, ambition, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge and discovery.
E. One Hundred Easy Ways
One Hundred Easy Ways is a comedic song from the 1953 Broadway musical Wonderful Town, known for its witty lyrics about a woman's humorous misadventures in romance.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (32)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Perl motto ⓘ programming philosophy ⓘ software development motto ⓘ
appearsIn	Perl community ⓘ surface form: Perl community discussions Perl documentation ⓘ
associatedWithLanguage	Perl ⓘ
category	hacker culture phrase ⓘ software engineering slogan ⓘ
coinedBy	Larry Wall ⓘ
contrastsWith	There should be one—and preferably only one—obvious way to do it ⓘ
contrastsWithLanguagePhilosophyOf	Python ⓘ
describes	flexibility in programming ⓘ multiple valid approaches to solving problems ⓘ
emphasizes	expressiveness of Perl ⓘ programmer freedom ⓘ
hasAcronym	There Is More Than One Way To Do It self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: TMTOWTDI
hasNotableProponent	Larry Wall ⓘ
influences	Perl coding style guidelines ⓘ Perl ⓘ surface form: Perl language design
languagePhilosophyType	non-prescriptive coding style ⓘ
mottoOf	Perl ⓘ surface form: Perl programming language
opposes	strict uniformity in code style ⓘ
promotes	creative problem solving in code ⓘ experimentation in programming ⓘ
relatedConcept	code expressiveness ⓘ language flexibility ⓘ programmer autonomy ⓘ
shortName	There Is More Than One Way To Do It self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: TMTOWTDI
supports	idiomatic Perl code diversity ⓘ
usedAs	slogan for Perl ⓘ
usedIn	Perl community culture ⓘ
writtenIn	English ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Larry Wall → coinedPhrase → There Is More Than One Way To Do It ⓘ

There Is More Than One Way To Do It → shortName → There Is More Than One Way To Do It self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: TMTOWTDI

There Is More Than One Way To Do It → hasAcronym → There Is More Than One Way To Do It self-linksurface differs ⓘ