[Python-ideas] Reviving PEP 3140 - "str(container) should call str(item), not repr(item)"

[Guido van Rossum]

So call str() on the items yourself. The point of str() is not just to have
a convenient notation. It also defines the default behavior of print().

--Guido van Rossum (sent from Android phone)
On Apr 8, 2013 2:57 AM, "Piotr Dobrogost" <
p at google-groups-2013.dobrogost.net> wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org>wrote:
>
>> Lots of reasons. E.g. would you really like this outcome?
>>
>> >>> a = 'foo, bar'
>> >>> b = [a]
>> >>> print(b)
>> [foo, bar]
>> >>>
>>
>
> This is indeed unfortunate but could be mitigated in some extent by
> enclosing container's elements with let's say pair of <>. Yes, I know it
> doesn't solve the problem but anything is better than having str()
> duplicate what repr() does. If I want to get repr I'll call repr() but when
> I call str() I expect to get some sensible, middle-ground representation
> not the same thing repr() already provides.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org>wrote:
>
>> Lots of reasons. E.g. would you really like this outcome?
>>
>> >>> a = 'foo, bar'
>> >>> b = [a]
>> >>> print(b)
>> [foo, bar]
>> >>>
>>
>> Plus of course there really would be tons of backwards compatibility
>> issues.
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Piotr Dobrogost
>> <p at google-groups-2013.dobrogost.net> wrote:
>> > Hi!
>> >
>> > Having str(container) calling str(item) and not repr(item) sounds like
>> the
>> > right thing to do. However, PEP 3140 was rejected on the basis of the
>> > following statement of Guido:
>> >
>> > "Let me just save everyone a lot of time and say that I'm opposed to
>> > this change, and that I believe that it would cause way too much
>> > disturbance to be accepted this close to beta."
>> >
>> >
>> > Thu, 29 May 2008 12:32:04 -0700
>> > (http://www.mail-archive.com/python-3000@python.org/msg13686.html)
>> >
>> > Does anyone know what's the reason Guido was opposed to this change?
>> > Is there any chance to revive this PEP?
>> >
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> > Piotr Dobrogost
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Python-ideas mailing list
>> > Python-ideas at python.org
>> > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-ideas
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Python-ideas mailing list
> Python-ideas at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-ideas
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/attachments/20130408/558a0646/attachment.html>