diff --git a/lib/sof/array.rb b/lib/sof/array.rb
index 64193614..1ee03944 100644
--- a/lib/sof/array.rb
+++ b/lib/sof/array.rb
@@ -10,10 +10,26 @@ module Sof
     end
     def out io , level = 0
       super
-      long_out(io , level)
+      short = true
+      children.each do |c|
+        short = false unless c.is_a?(SimpleNode)
+      end
+      if(short and children.length < 7 )
+        short_out(io,level)
+      else
+        long_out(io , level)
+      end
     end
     
     private
+    def short_out(io,level)
+      io.write("[")
+      @children.each_with_index do |child , i|
+        child.out(io , level + 1)
+        io.write ", " unless (i+1) == children.length
+      end
+      io.write("]")
+    end
     def long_out io , level
       indent = " " * level
       @children.each_with_index do |child , i|
diff --git a/test/sof.rb b/test/sof.rb
index d86b296b..dd33cc7f 100644
--- a/test/sof.rb
+++ b/test/sof.rb
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ class BasicSof < MiniTest::Test
     object = ObjectWithAttributes.new
     object.extra = [:sym , 123]
     @out = Sof::Writer.write(object)
-    check "#{OBJECT_STRING}\n :extra -:sym\n  -123" 
+    check "#{OBJECT_STRING}\n :extra [:sym, 123]" 
   end
   def test_simple_array
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([true, 1234])
-    check "-true\n-1234" 
+    check "[true, 1234]" 
   end
   def test_array_object
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([true, 1234 , ObjectWithAttributes.new])
@@ -44,15 +44,15 @@ class BasicSof < MiniTest::Test
   end
   def test_array_array
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([true, 1 , [true , 12 ]])
-    check "-true\n-1\n--true\n -12" 
+    check "-true\n-1\n-[true, 12]" 
   end
   def test_array_array_reverse
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([ [true , 12 ], true, 1])
-    check "--true\n -12\n-true\n-1" 
+    check "-[true, 12]\n-true\n-1" 
   end
   def test_array_array_array
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([true, 1 , [true , 12 , [true , 123 ]]])
-    check "-true\n-1\n--true\n -12\n --true\n  -123" 
+    check "-true\n-1\n--true\n -12\n -[true, 123]" 
   end
   def test_array_array_object
     @out = Sof::Writer.write([true, 1 , [true , 12 , ObjectWithAttributes.new]])
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class BasicSof < MiniTest::Test
     ar = [true, 1 ]
     ar << ar
     @out = Sof::Writer.write(ar)
-    check "&1 -true\n-1\n-*1" 
+    check "&1 [true, 1, *1]" 
   end
   def test_object_recursive
     object = ObjectWithAttributes.new