I have to say I agree with Neil here. I was trying to think about what other reasons an attribute might be unsettable, and did not quickly come up with that list.

And after reading your list, I tried to imagine what I’d tell my beginning students ! 

But if the error message is indeed unique then yes:

 "can't set property 'f'" 

Would be far more clear message. 

-CHB

--
Christopher Barker, PhD (Chris)

Python Language Consulting
  - Teaching
  - Scientific Software Development
  - Desktop GUI and Web Development
  - wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython
--
Christopher Barker, PhD (Chris)

Python Language Consulting
  - Teaching
  - Scientific Software Development
  - Desktop GUI and Web Development
  - wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython