Printing without parentheses varying error message using Python 3

Question

When I try to use print without parentheses on a simple name in Python 3.4 I get:

>>> print max
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
           


        

Answer 1

Maybe I'm not understanding something, but I don't see why Python should point out the error earlier. print is a regular function, that is a variable referencing a function, so these are all valid statements:

print(10)
print, max, 2
str(print)
print.__doc__
[print] + ['a', 'b']
{print: 2}

As I understand it, the parser needs to read the next full token after print (max in this case) in order to determine whether there is a syntax error. It cannot just say "fail if there is no open parenthesis", because there are a number of different tokens that may go after print depending on the current context.

I don't think there is a case where print may be directly followed by another identifier or a literal, so you could argue that as soon as there is one letter, a number or quotes you should stop, but that would be mixing the parser's and the lexer's job.