diff --git a/src/icartt/dataset.py b/src/icartt/dataset.py
index 9cb3e9b2a71d8c614e7d608738ced27b005d7a30..20dc6d92ae6bb47d99e76743513d48e0905afbd4 100644
--- a/src/icartt/dataset.py
+++ b/src/icartt/dataset.py
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ class Variable:
     :type miss: float, defaults to -99999.0
     """
 
-    def desc(self, splitChar=","):
+    def desc(self, splitChar=", "):
         """Variable description string as it appears in an ICARTT file
 
         :return: description string
@@ -361,10 +361,12 @@ class Variable:
         self.scale = scale
         self.miss = miss
 
-    # TODO: should this also get a __str__ ?
+    def __repr__(self):
+        # TODO: this sould be more meaningful
+        return "ICARTT Variable object repr"
 
-    def __repr__(self): # TODO: this could be more meaningful?
-        return "ICARTT Variable description"
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self.desc()
 
 
 class Dataset:
@@ -383,8 +385,6 @@ class Dataset:
     :param format:
     """
 
-    # TODO: should this also get a __str__  and a __repr__ ?
-
     @property
     def nHeader(self):
         """Header line count
@@ -875,6 +875,14 @@ class Dataset:
         except:
             pass
 
+    def __repr__(self):
+        # TODO: this could be more meaningful
+        return "ICARTT Dataset object repr"
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        # TODO: this could be more meaningful
+        return "ICARTT Dataset string representation"
+
     def __init__(self, f=None, loadData=True, splitChar=",", format=Formats.FFI1001): # TODO: why is init comming last?
         """Constructor method"""
         self.format = format