AString.py - strings as arrays of characters

This module provides the AString class to efficiently represent long, chromosomal nucleotide sequences in memory.

Reference

class AString.AString(*args)

Bases: array.array

implementation of a string as an array.

This class conserves memory as it uses only 1 byte per letter, while python strings use the machine word size for a letter.

It adds a subset of the python string class such as upper() and lower() for convenience. Slicing and printing return strings.

The AString can be constructed by any iterable that is accepted by the constructor of array.array.

upper()

return upper case version.

lower()

return lower case version.