Improved TypeError message for distribution

pymc-devs · Jul 17, 2017 · 8d2565f · 8d2565f
1 parent e4fb845
commit 8d2565f
Showing 1 changed file with 2 additions and 1 deletion.
diff --git a/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py b/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ def __new__(cls, name, *args, **kwargs):
         except TypeError:
             raise TypeError("No model on context stack, which is needed to "
                             "instantiate distributions. Add variable inside "
-                            "a 'with model:' block")
+                            "a 'with model:' block, or use the '.dist' syntax "
+                            "for a standalone distribution.")
 
         if isinstance(name, string_types):
             data = kwargs.pop('observed', None)