diff --git a/lib/parfait/list.rb b/lib/parfait/list.rb
index ff457752..15eef3cb 100644
--- a/lib/parfait/list.rb
+++ b/lib/parfait/list.rb
@@ -157,6 +157,17 @@ module Parfait
       padded_words( get_layout().get_length() +  get_length() )
     end
 
+    def inspect
+      ret = ""
+      index = 1
+      while index <= self.get_length
+        item = get(index)
+        ret += item.inspect
+        ret += "," unless index == self.get_length
+        index = index + 1
+      end
+      ret
+    end
     #many basic List functions can not be defined in ruby, such as
     # get/set/length/add/delete
     # so they must be defined as Methods in Builtin::Kernel
diff --git a/lib/parfait/variable.rb b/lib/parfait/variable.rb
index a66c0913..736f6d63 100644
--- a/lib/parfait/variable.rb
+++ b/lib/parfait/variable.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,19 @@
 module Parfait
   class Variable < Object
+
     def initialize type , name , value = nil
-      @type , @name , @value = type , name , value
-      @value = 0 if @type == :int and value == nil
+      raise "not type #{type}" unless type == :ref or type == :int
+      self.type , self.name , self.value = type , name , value
+      self.value = 0 if self.type == :int and value == nil
+      raise "must give name for variable" unless name
     end
     attributes [:type , :name, :value]
+
+    def to_s
+      "Variable(#{self.type} ,#{self.name})"
+    end
+    def inspect
+      to_s
+    end
   end
 end