[New-bugs-announce] [issue31563] Change repr of dict_keys, dict_values, and dict_items to use curly braces

[Dan Snider]

New submission from Dan Snider:

They behave like sets yet their repr looks like a list: dict_keys([0, 1, 3, 4]). It should be dict_keys({0, 1, 2, 3, 4}). Ditto for odict_keys/odict_values. Maybe this is a holdover from when the repr of sets was Set([0, 1, 2, ...])?

The reason I bring this up is that they behave like sets was one of the last things I learned. I learned about stuff like abcs, metaclasses (including stuff like __prepare__ and __init_subclass__) and memorized practically all of the standard library long before I realized this.

I don't think it would break anything to do this and it could help dummies like me realize their set-like behavior sooner.

It might also be nice to give them the explicit `symmetric_difference`, `union`, and `intersection` methods in addition to the respective `__xor__`, `__or__`, and `__and__` methods.

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messages: 302803
nosy: bup
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Change repr of dict_keys, dict_values, and dict_items to use curly braces
type: enhancement
versions: Python 3.7

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue31563>
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