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Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 10:42:45 -0800 (PST)
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:16859

(some,
 very,
 long,
 list,
 of,
 variable,
 names,
 to,
 get,
 the,
 stuff,
 unpacked,
 into) = function_that_should_return_a_14_tuple()

raises

ValueError: too many values to unpack

Quick, what's the bug?  Did I forget a variable on the LHS, or is my function returning more things than it should?  I know it's supposed to be 14, but I don't know which side is wrong.  Had it said "... expected 13, got 14", I would know immediately.

Error messages should be as explicit as possible.  It's just like bug reports.  The basic mantra of a bug report is:

1) This is what I did

2) This is what I expected to happen

3) This is what I observed happen

4) This is how what I observed differed from what I expected

Saying, "expected X, got Y" is more explicit than "got too many"