title: Convert a list to a string and back
body: <p>I have a virtual machine which reads instructions from tuples nested within a list like so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[(0,4738),(0,36),
   (0,6376),(0,0)]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When storing this kind of machine code program, a text file is easiest, and has to be written as a string. Which is obviously quite hard to convert back.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any module which can read a string into a list/store the list in a readable way?</p>
  
  <p>requirements: </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Must be human readable in stored form (hence "pickle" is not suitable)  </li>
  <li>Must be relatively easy to implement</li>
  </ul>