def _abbrev_program(program: Program, max_len=10):
    """Create an abbreviated string representation of a Program.

    This will join all instructions onto a single line joined by '; '. If the number of
    instructions exceeds ``max_len``, some will be excluded from the string representation.
    """
    program_lines = program.out().splitlines()
    if max_len is not None and len(program_lines) > max_len:
        first_n = max_len // 2
        last_n = max_len - first_n
        excluded = len(program_lines) - max_len
        program_lines = (program_lines[:first_n] + [f'... {excluded} instrs not shown ...']
                         + program_lines[-last_n:])

    return '; '.join(program_lines)