Syntax Error: Not a Chance

python syntax-error curly-braces
Anurag-Sharma picture Anurag-Sharma · Jul 23, 2013 · Viewed 31.7k times · Source

I tried executed the following code in the python IDLE 

from __future__ import braces

And I got the following error:

SyntaxError: not a chance

What does the above error mean?

Answer

Martijn Pieters picture Martijn Pieters · Jul 23, 2013

You have found an easter egg in Python. It is a joke.

It means that delimiting blocks by braces instead of indentation will never be implemented.

Normally, imports from the special __future__ module enable features that are backwards-incompatible, such as the print() function, or true division.

So the line from __future__ import braces is taken to mean you want to enable the 'create blocks with braces' feature, and the exception tells you your chances of that ever happening are nil.

You can add that to the long list of in-jokes included in Python, just like import __hello__, import this and import antigravity. The Python developers have a well-developed sense of humour!

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