creating lists from class instances in python

Question

I am making progress on my top trumps style game and want to be able to separate the instances created from my Superhero class into 2 decks. The code below works if I am just creating the deck list using normal lists or tuples but I can't figure out why it throws up an error message when using the instances from the Superhero class. I am sure it is something simple but I can't figure it out, please help.

So this works on its own...

from random import shuffle

hulk = ["Hulk", 10, 10, 1, 1, 7, 10]
thor = ["Thor", 1, 8, 8, 7, 8, 9]
ironMan = ["Iron Man", 9, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8]
blackWidow = ["Black Widow", 6, 7, 8, 10, 7, 4]
spiderman = ["Spiderman", 6, 9, 10, 9, 9, 9]
captainAmerica = ["Captain America", 5, 8, 9, 10, 7, 6]

deck = [thor, hulk, ironMan, blackWidow, spiderman, captainAmerica]


shuffle (deck)

half = int(len(deck)/2)
p1 = (deck[0:half])
cpu = (deck[half:])


print (p1)
print (cpu)

However when used in my program it does not, throws out error messages like < main .Superhero object at 0x020FC510>

import random

from random import shuffle

class Superhero (object):

def __init__(self, name, beast_rating, power, intelligence, specialpower, fightingskills, speed):
    self.name = name
    self.beast_rating = beast_rating
    self.power = power
    self.intelligence = intelligence
    self.specialpower = specialpower
    self.fightingskills = fightingskills
    self.speed = speed


hulk = Superhero("Hulk", 10, 10, 1, 1, 7, 10)
thor = Superhero("Thor", 1, 8, 8, 7, 8, 9)
ironMan = Superhero("Iron Man", 9, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8)
blackWidow = Superhero("Black Widow", 6, 7, 8, 10, 7, 4)
spiderman = Superhero("Spiderman", 6, 9, 10, 9, 9, 9)
captainAmerica = Superhero("Captain America", 5, 8, 9, 10, 7, 6)


deck = [thor, hulk, ironMan, blackWidow, spiderman, captainAmerica]

shuffle (deck)

half = int(len(deck)/2)
p1 = (deck[0:half])
cpu = (deck[half:])

print (p1)
print (cpu)

Answer 1

That is not an error, it is just the way objects are represented if no other way of representation is specified. Thus, to fix the problem, you should implement the __repr__ method of your Superhero class. Something like this:

class Superhero (object):

    ....

    def __repr__(self):
        return "Superhero({}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {})".format(self.name, 
                self.beast_rating, self.power, self.intelligence, 
                self.specialpower, self.fightingskills, self.speed)

It will then print the lists as [Superhero(Hulk, 10, 10, 1, 1, 7, 10), Superhero(Iron Man, 9, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8), Superhero(Black Widow, 6, 7, 8, 10, 7, 4)] .

See this answer for a great explanation of __repr__ and the related __str__ method.