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Make the meaning of "Error" clearer in the Generics docs #2384
Description
I think the Generics docs is confusing in the way it describes errors. Currently, the following code comments are used:
# INVALID# illegal# Error# Rejected# NOT valid# Not OK# Type error# Type checker error
These don't distinguish between actual runtime errors vs type checker warnings in code examples. Only the last one is fully clear.
What do we think?
Activity
JadenV15 commentedon Nov 3, 2026
Actually, this issue seems to apply to many pages of the typing docs.
JelleZijlstra commentedon Nov 4, 2026
Yes, this is a common issue. I think for clarity we should standardize on "Type checker error" and "Runtime error". ("Type error" is confusing as it may be read to mean
TypeErroris raised.)The runtime typing code may have bugs or inconsistent behavior and fail to raise errors for some conditions that could in theory be detected at runtime. In the spec we should focus on type checker errors and it can be OK to write "Type checker error" even if the code also raises at runtime. The spec shouldn't depend on exactly which issues are caught by the runtime typing machinery.