[Python-Dev] unsubscriptable vs object does not support indexing

[Dino Viehland]

Brett wrote:
> Let's ignore history, which I bet is the reason for the distinction,
> and just look at the error messages; does the distinction make sense
> to a newbie? I would say no and that the "does not support indexing"
> error message is more useful. For expert programmers they could figure
> out the problem with either error message. The only help is if you are
> trying to debug a type, but I am willing to bet most of us didn't know
> the distinction at the C level until David looked it up.
> 
> So I am +1 on unified the message and +1 on using the "does not
> support indexing" one.

I'd be +1 on the unified message as well - but it seems what that message
should be may be contentious (and quite a bike shed discussion at that).
The bug David linked to (http://bugs.python.org/issue5760) has a 
preference for subscript because that's what's used elsewhere in the 
language.