What is a programming idiom?

Question

I see the phrase \"programming idiom\" thrown around as if it is commonly understood. Yet, in search results and stackoverflow I see everything...

From micro:

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Answer 1

Get into a rut early: Do the same process the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference(!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list – not the size of his vocabulary.

• ALAN PERLIS, Epigrams in Programming

http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html