String representation methods in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

String Representation Methods

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple program to represent a book with its title and author. You want to show the book details in two ways: one for users and one for developers.

🎯 Goal: Build a Python class Book with two string representation methods: __str__ and __repr__. Use these methods to display the book details differently.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a class called Book with title and author attributes

Add a __str__ method that returns a user-friendly string

Add a __repr__ method that returns a developer-friendly string

Create an instance of Book with exact title 'The Great Gatsby' and author 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'

Print the instance using print(book) to show the __str__ output

Print the instance using repr(book) to show the __repr__ output

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

String representation methods help show objects clearly in programs and debugging.

💼 Career

Understanding __str__ and __repr__ is important for writing readable and maintainable Python code.

1

Create the Book class with attributes

Create a class called Book with an __init__ method that takes title and author as parameters and assigns them to instance variables.

Python

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use def __init__(self, title, author): and assign self.title = title and self.author = author.

2

Add the __str__ method

Add a __str__ method to the Book class that returns a string in the format: "Title: {self.title}, Author: {self.author}".

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title, author):
        self.title = title
        self.author = author

# Add __str__ method here

Need a hint?

The __str__ method should return a formatted string with the title and author.

3

Add the __repr__ method

Add a __repr__ method to the Book class that returns a string in the format: "Book(title='{self.title}', author='{self.author}')".

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title, author):
        self.title = title
        self.author = author
    
    def __str__(self):
        return f"Title: {self.title}, Author: {self.author}"

# Add __repr__ method here

Need a hint?

The __repr__ method should return a string that looks like how you create the object.

4

Create instance and print outputs

Create an instance called book of the Book class with title 'The Great Gatsby' and author 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'. Then print book and print repr(book).

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title, author):
        self.title = title
        self.author = author
    
    def __str__(self):
        return f"Title: {self.title}, Author: {self.author}"
    
    def __repr__(self):
        return f"Book(title='{self.title}', author='{self.author}')"

# Create book instance and print outputs here

Need a hint?

Use book = Book('The Great Gatsby', 'F. Scott Fitzgerald'), then print(book) and print(repr(book)).