confused about __str__ vs. __repr__

[Scott David Daniels]

J. Cliff Dyer wrote:
> ... how an object prints itself is up to that object and that object alone....
> If I wanted to implement a list-like class that doesn't show it's elements at 
 > all when printed, but instead shows its length, I am free to do so.
> For example:
> 
>>>> hl = HiddenList(1,2,3)
>>>> hl
> <HiddenList object: length=3>
>>>> hl[1]
> 2
> 
> (Implementation of HiddenList left as an exercise for the reader.)

And just so some of you who wonder how hard this implementation is:
(2.4.X, 2.5.X, 2.6.X):
     class HiddenList(list):
         def __repr__(self):
             return '<%s object: length=%s>' % (
                      type(self).__name__, len(self))
(3.0):
     class HiddenList(list):
         def __repr__(self):
             return '<{0} object: length={1}>'.format(
                      type(self).__name__, len(self))

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org