Clock

Instructions

Implement a clock that handles times without dates.

You should be able to add and subtract minutes to it.

Two clocks that represent the same time should be equal to each other.

How this exercise is implemented for the Python track

The tests for this exercise expect that your clock will be implemented in a Clock class. If you are unfamiliar with classes in Python, classes and classes (from the Python docs) are good places to start.

Representing your class

When working with and debugging objects, it's important to have a good representation of that object. For example — if you were to create a new datetime.datetime object in the Python REPL environment, you could view its string representation:

>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> new_date = datetime(2022, 5, 4)
>>> new_date
datetime.datetime(2022, 5, 4, 0, 0)

Your Clock class should create a custom object that handles times without dates. One important aspect of this class will be how it is represented as a string. Other programmers who use or call Clock objects created from the Clock class will refer to this string representation for debugging and other activities. However, the default representation on a custom class is not very helpful:

>>> Clock(12, 34)
<Clock object st 0x102807b20 >

To create a more helpful representation, you can define a __repr__ special method on the class.

Ideally, that __repr__ method returns valid Python code that can be used to recreate the object when passed to eval() — as laid out in the specification for a __repr__ method. Returning valid Python code allows another developer to copy-paste the str directly into code or the REPL. A Clock that represents 11:30 AM could look like this:

 `Clock(11, 30)`

Defining a __repr__ method is good practice for all custom classes. Some additional things to consider:

• The information returned from this method should be beneficial when debugging issues.
• Ideally, the method returns a string that is valid Python code — although that might not always be possible.
• If valid Python code is not practical, returning a description between angle brackets: < ...a practical description... > is the convention.

String conversion

In addition to the __repr__ method, there might also be a need for an alternative "human-readable" string representation of the class. This might be used to format the object for program output or documentation. This is done by writing a __str__ special method. Looking at datetime.datetime again:

>>> str(datetime.datetime(2022, 5, 4))
'2022-05-04 00:00:00'

When a datetime object is asked to convert itself to a string representation, it returns a str formatted according to the ISO 8601 standard, which can be parsed by most datetime libraries into a human-readable date and time.

In this exercise, you will get a chance to write a __str__ method for your Clock, as well as a __repr__ method.

>>> str(Clock(11, 30))
'11:30'

To support this string conversion, you will need to create a __str__ special method on your class that returns a more "human-readable" string showing the Clock time.

If you don't create a __str__ method and you call str() on your class, Python will try calling __repr__ on your class as a fallback. So if you only implement one of these two special methods, it would be better to create a __repr__ rather than just a __str__.