Assigning to Ellipsis should be the same as assigning to __debug__

[aroberge]

BPO	44273
Nosy	@aroberge, @serhiy-storchaka, @pablogsal
PRs	bpo-44273: Improve syntax error message for assigning to "..." #26477 [3.10] bpo-44273: Improve syntax error message for assigning to "..." (GH-26477) #26478

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2021-06-01.11:14:23.699>
created_at = <Date 2021-05-31.15:04:05.962>
labels = ['interpreter-core', '3.10']
title = 'Assigning to Ellipsis should be the same as assigning to __debug__'
updated_at = <Date 2021-06-03.21:22:37.615>
user = 'https://github.com/aroberge'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-06-03.21:22:37.615>
actor = 'pablogsal'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2021-06-01.11:14:23.699>
closer = 'pablogsal'
components = ['Interpreter Core']
creation = <Date 2021-05-31.15:04:05.962>
creator = 'aroberge'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 44273
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 9.0
messages = ['394808', '394824', '394825', '394826', '394827', '394829', '394831', '394853', '395049']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['aroberge', 'serhiy.storchaka', 'pablogsal']
pr_nums = ['26477', '26478']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue44273'
versions = ['Python 3.10']

[aroberge]

Consider the following in Python 3.10

>>> ... = 1
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    ... = 1
    ^^^
SyntaxError: cannot assign to Ellipsis here. Maybe you meant '==' instead of '='?
>>> __debug__ = 1
  File "<stdin>", line 1
SyntaxError: cannot assign to __debug__

In prior Python versions, assignments to Ellisis written as ... were treated the same as assignment to __debug__. I believe that the old message was a better choice.

The error message about assigning to Ellipsis (...) is made even more confusing since Ellipsis (the name) can be assigned to a different value.

>>> ... == Ellipsis
True
>>> Ellipsis = 1
>>> ... == Ellipsis
False
>>> ...
Ellipsis

[pablogsal]

Hummmm, I sort of agree, but I need to weigh how complex is going to be to special-case. I really don't want to start adding many different paths for the different built-ins in different situations.

[pablogsal]

Also, another problem is that "cannot assign to __debug__" is actually a compiler error, while "cannot assign to Ellipsis here. Maybe you meant '==' instead of '='?" is a parser error. This is because "__debug__" is tokenized as NAME while '...' is tokenized as ELLIPSIS (it's own token).

[pablogsal]

What we can do is to replace:

SyntaxError: cannot assign to Ellipsis here. Maybe you meant '==' instead of '='?

for

SyntaxError: cannot assign to '...' here. Maybe you meant '==' instead of '='?

[aroberge]

I think that the suggestion to explicitly refer to '...' instead of the
name Ellipsis would be preferable.

Aside: I had not realized that this was done at a different stage for
__debug__ and Ellipsis ("Ignorance is bliss"...) and do realize that this
is a rare corner case that a beginner would almost never encountered.
(I'm just trying my best to prevent any kind of confusion in my own
program, and probably overestimate the potential for confusion here for
cPython users).

[pablogsal]

I suggest to just close it or otherwise changing the message to include "..." instead of "Ellipsis". Anything else is actually much more complex than it seems, unfortunately

[aroberge]

Up to your best judgment Pablo - and thanks for your ongoing work on improving error messages.

[pablogsal]

New changeset 39dd141 by Serhiy Storchaka in branch 'main':
bpo-44273: Improve syntax error message for assigning to "..." (GH-26477)
39dd141

[pablogsal]

New changeset 3283bf4 by Pablo Galindo in branch '3.10':
[3.10] bpo-44273: Improve syntax error message for assigning to "..." (GH-26477) (GH-26478)
3283bf4