New submission from Brad Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: I use Python in my CS1 and CS2 curriculum and I have a question. As I've been using the Python 3.0 alphas one of the things that I am bothered by is that I cannot see the sequence produced by range without introducing students to the list() function.
I typically introduce range on day 1 of class and show students what it produces without making a big deal out of the fact that it creates a list. They all accept this and things work out nicely when I introduce lists for real in a week or two. My question is why couldn't the __str__ method for the range object be more friendly and show a representation of the sequence? I understand why __repr__ should return range(0,10) for an object created using range(10) but couldn't print(range(10)) produce [0, 1, 2, ... 9] The ... could even be used if the sequence were excessively long. I have attached a patch, which follows the suggestion from Guido on how to format the string so it is not confused with a list. This is my first attempt at patching any part of the C code for Python. Please let me know what should be changed and If I've missed something. In particular I wonder whether I should be nesting any calls to PyNumber functions or whether temporary variables should be used to avoid leaking memory? In addition I get the following warning on the line where I install the range_str function in the PyRange_Type array. Objects/rangeobject.c:357: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type Brad ---------- components: Interpreter Core files: range_str.patch keywords: patch messages: 65316 nosy: bmiller severity: normal status: open title: string representation of range type: feature request versions: Python 3.0 Added file: http://bugs.python.org/file10000/range_str.patch __________________________________ Tracker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://bugs.python.org/issue2610> __________________________________ _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com
