> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://drlilianblot.gitbook.io/introduction-to-programming-with-python/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://drlilianblot.gitbook.io/introduction-to-programming-with-python/variables-expressions-and-statements/debugging.md).

# Debugging

At this point the syntax error you are most likely to make is an illegal variable name, like `class` and `yield`, which are keywords, or `odd job` and `GBP£`, which contain illegal characters (remember, variable names cannot contain a blank space).

If you put a space in a variable name, Python thinks it is two operands without an operator:

```bash
>>> bad name = 5 
SyntaxError: invalid syntax 
```

For syntax errors, the error messages don't help much. The most common messages are `SyntaxError: invalid syntax` and `SyntaxError: invalid token`, neither of which is very informative.

The runtime error you are most likely to make is a `NameError` that is, trying to use a variable before you have assigned a value. This can happen if you spell a variable name wrong:

```bash
>>> principal = 327.68 
>>> interest = principle * rate
 Traceback (most recent call last): 
     File "<pyshell#36>", line 1, 
        in interest = principle * rate 
  NameError: name 'principle' is not defined 
```

Variables names are case sensitive, so `Principal` is not the same as `principal`.

At this point the most likely cause of a semantic error is the order of operations. For example, to evaluate $$\frac{1}{2 \pi}$$, you might be tempted to write:

```python
1.0 / 2.0 * pi
```

But the division happens first, so you would get $$\pi / 2$$, which is not the same thing! There is no way for Python to know what you meant to write, so in this case you don't get an error message; you just get the wrong answer.