[Python-ideas] Arguments to exceptions

[Terry Reedy]

On 7/4/2017 8:08 PM, Ken Kundert wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 04, 2017 at 04:54:11PM -0400, Terry Reedy wrote:
>> There have been many proposals for what we might call
>> RichExceptions, with more easily access information.  But as Raymond
>> Hettinger keeps pointing out, Python does not use exceptions only
>> for (hopefully rare) errors.  It also uses them as signals for flow
>> control, both as an alternative form for alternation and for
>> iteration.  Alternation with try:except instead of if:else is
>> common.  In the try: unicode example above, the NameError is not an
>> error.  Until 2.2, IndexError served the role of StopIteration
>> today, and can still be used for iteration.  For flow control,
>> richer exceptions just slow code execution.
> 
> Terry,
>      Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like an argument for the proposal.

I actually do not know what 'the proposal' is and how it is the same or 
different from past proposals, especially those that have been rejected. 
  I initially elaborated on some points of Steven D'Aprano that I agree 
with, in light of past discussions and tracker issues.

> Consider the NameError, currently when raised the error message must be
> constructed before it is passed to the exception. But in the proposal, you
> simply pass the name (already available) and the format string (a constant). The
> name is never interpolated into the format string unless the message is actually
> used, which it would not in the cases you cite.

That is close to what I am thinking.  I would give the format a default 
value, the one Python uses most often.
def NameError(name, template="name {name} not found"):
     self.name = name
     self.template = template

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy