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__repr__ policy problem: should module be prefixed to output?

Per Kraulis per at sbc.su.se
Fri Dec 15 10:36:13 EST 2000 
Having just released a Python extension module crng
(http://www.sbc.su.se/~per/crng/), I have received some constructive
criticism, one issue being save/restore functionality. My plan is to
define a __repr__ for each type in the module.

However, I have realized that there is a policy problem. Should __repr__
add the module name as prefix to the output string, or not? Or is there
some other solution?

Alternative 1:

>>> from crng import *
>>> r=ParkMiller()
>>> repr(r)
crng.ParkMiller(seed=314159265)

Alternative 2:

>>> from crng import *
>>> r=ParkMiller()
>>> repr(r)
ParkMiller(seed=314159265)

The problem is that Alt 1 is appropriate in the context of "import
crng", while Alt 2 is better when having done "from crng import *".

A suggestion is that there should be a settable module variable that
controls this. Feels like a kludge to me...

Any ideas which way to go?
-- 
Per J. Kraulis, Ph.D.                        per at sbc.su.se
Stockholm Bioinformatics Center (SBC)        http://www.sbc.su.se/~per
Dept. Biochemistry, Stockholm University     phone +46 (0)8 - 674 78 17
SE-106 91 Stockholm, SWEDEN                  fax   +46 (0)8 -  15 80 57
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