Arbitrary distinctions have become one of my pet peeves. Any _distinction without a difference_, or distinction whose difference is so inconsequential or edge-case-catching I'd deem as arbitrary. This also includes cases where there **is** a meaningful difference in how something is organized, but the choice of organization scheme is not obvious and other options exist. These introduced [[Ambiguity]]. > [!warning] This is subjective! > Things I deem arbitrary are probably _not_ arbitrary - but instead reflect a lack of awareness or understanding on my part. That said, if I don't see a meaningful difference, I'd be willing to bet a lot of others don't either. # Example Arbitrary Distinctions ## Inconsequential Distinctions - sorting Lego by color or sorting Lego by function - a `function` versus a `process` in [[Archimate]] - just one example, many such examples exist across all sorts of modeling frameworks & languages - which clothes are currently considered "fashionable" ### Consequential Distinctions - which emergency room is "in-network", from the perspective of its customers # Representation in [[The Zen of Python]] [[The Zen of Python]] covers arbitrary distinctions obliquely in a couple of spots: > - Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules. ...and... > - There should be one– and preferably only one –obvious way to do it. **** # More ## Source - [[Myself]]