[Python-ideas] accurate errors for "magic" methods

[R. David Murray]

Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info> wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:56:16 am Georg Brandl wrote:
> > spir schrieb:
> > > Actually, I'm wrong: it's perfectly clear as long as the programmer
> > > is able to follow all the necessary reflexion path; then probably
> > > also able to solve the problem without any help from python.
> > >
> > > The issue here is that a very specific (and meaningful) case
> > > (dict-like behaviour missing) is adressed using a very generic (and
> > > thus helpless) message (attributeError).
> > >
> > > I think error cases about "magic" methods, that implement
> > > conceptually meaningful behaviours, should have appropriate
> > > messages. In the case above, maybe something like: "Values instance
> > > is not an item container (no __getitem__ method found)."
> >
> > The time machine strikes again:
> > >>> class A(object): pass
> >
> > ...
> >
> > >>> A()['a']
> >
> > Traceback (most recent call last):
> >   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
> > TypeError: 'A' object is unsubscriptable
> >
> >
> > (the difference being that A is new-style, while Values is
> > old-style.)
> 
> 
> Except that the error "object is unsubscriptable" might as well be in 
> Klingon to most people, particularly newbies. 
> 
> (1) It's easy to misread it as "unscriptable", which is even more 
> mysterious.
> 
> (2) As far as I know, there's no tradition of describing key or index 
> lookup as "subscripting" in Python. I've never noticed it in doc 
> strings or the online docs, and after hanging around comp.lang.python 
> extensively for years, I feel safe to say it's not a common term among 
> even experienced Python developers. I suppose that there's a weak 
> connection between index lookup and subscripts in mathematics.
> 
> (3) The classic error message tells the newbie exactly what the error 
> is: the object has no __getitem__ method. The new error message tells 
> the newbie nothing useful. Given that obj is unsubscriptable, what 
> needs to be done to make it subscriptable?

+1

And not just the newbie, either.  The experienced python programmer
looks at the original message and goes "ah ha".  The experienced python
programmer looks at the new message and has to _think about it_ before
understanding arrives.  I think that would be true even if you found a
better word than 'unsubscriptable'.  "Does not implement an item lookup
method" might work.  Or how about, 'Does not implement the Sequence or
Mapping interface'?

But you know what?  Doing a google search for 'python mapping' gets you
the description of dictionaries, while doing a google search for 'python
__getitem__' gets you to the data model chapter that describes how the
mapping/sequence behavior is implemented via __getitem__.  The latter
is more useful even to the newbie, I think.

So even if it looks ugly, I think the error message should mention
__getitem__.

--
R. David Murray