Using __repr__ or __str__ for own printable class?

[Erik Max Francis]

Alex Martelli wrote:

> There's supposed to be a good reason for this to print [rep],
> rather than [str] as common sense would suggest, but I keep
> forgetting it (so it's probably nor very compelling;-).

I have to agree.  It makes more sense to me that the str of a collection
prints the str of its elements (and on down), and that the repr of a
collection prints the repr of its elements.  That isn't the way things
work, and I accept that and it's not a huge issue for me, but I
personally consider it one of Python's minor quirks.  I can see the
argument (which was put forth in this thread) that printing the str
might be misleading in some cases, but that doesn't seem to me a very
compelling argument; since both the str and repr are user-selectable, it
should be easy for an inquisitive soul who's confused about what he's
seeing to figure out what's going on with little or no trouble.

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