[Python-Dev] Error message for wrong number of arguments

[Chris Barker]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 5:12 AM, Jeroen Demeyer <J.Demeyer at ugent.be> wrote:

> I think it has been argued before that it's a feature that self is
> counted.


I suppose it is, as it's technically correct, but it's also a HUGE source
of confusion, particularly for newbies. IF this is being touched anyway, is
it possible for the interpreter to know when this error is generated that
this is a bound method expecting a "self", rather than an arbitrary
function with n parameters? In which case, it would be really nice if the
error message replaced that somehow, maybe something like:

>>> g(1,2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: append() takes 1 positional argument in addition to the
automatically added instance object --  but 2 were given in addition to the
object instance.

Man -- hard to come up with good wording for that -- but SOMETHING that
lets users know what they actually did wrong would be good :-)

If it's not do-able, then still +1 on making builtins consistent.

-CHB

-- 

Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
Oceanographer

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