Understanding Class Type '__main__.classname'

Code: class Fraction(object): def __init__(self, num, denom): self.numerator = num self.denominator = denom def main(): f = Fraction(1, 3) print type(f

Solution 1:

1. As you have not defined a __repr__ (or __str__) on the class, it's inherited the one from the superclass -- object and that how its written there. So, all your class instances are expressed that way. As for the class itself, you need to change the __repr__/__str__ on the metaclass i.e. the class of which our class in question is an instance of; the default metaclass is type. __main__ is the name of the module, here as you are directly executing it, its being considered as a script and all scripts have the name __main__ in Python

2. There's a . in between because Fraction is an attribute of the script __main__, the module; and belongs to the module level scope

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Example:

In [47]: classMyMeta(type):
    ...:     def__repr__(cls):
    ...:         return'Whatever...'
    ...:     

In [48]: classMyClass(metaclass=MyMeta):
    ...:     def__repr__(self):
    ...:         return'Howdy...'
    ...:     

In [49]: obj = MyClass()

In [50]: print(obj)
Howdy...

In [51]: print(type(obj))
Whatever...

For Python2, you need to define __metaclass__ as a class attribute.

Solution 2:

The name of the script being run is always __main__. This is why you check for this specific name, and why classes defined in the script are attributes of it.