cmd/compile/internal/syntax: better error when an assignment is used in value context

The error message is now positioned at the statement position (which is
an identifing token, such as the '=' for assignments); and in case of
assignments it emphasizes the assignment by putting the Lhs and Rhs
in parentheses. Finally, the wording is changed from "use of * as value"
to the stronger "cannot use * as value" (for which there is precedent
elsewhere in the parser).

Fixes #36858.

Change-Id: Ic3f101bba50f58e3a1d9b29645066634631f2d61
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/218337
Reviewed-by: Matthew Dempsky <mdempsky@google.com>

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/parser.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/parser.go
index f3c2c60ec8..469d9ad69b 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/parser.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/parser.go
@@ -1886,11 +1886,16 @@ done:
 		// which turns an expression into an assignment. Provide
 		// a more explicit error message in that case to prevent
 		// further confusion.
-		str := String(s)
+		var str string
 		if as, ok := s.(*AssignStmt); ok && as.Op == 0 {
-			str = "assignment " + str
+			// Emphasize Lhs and Rhs of assignment with parentheses to highlight '='.
+			// Do it always - it's not worth going through the trouble of doing it
+			// only for "complex" left and right sides.
+			str = "assignment (" + String(as.Lhs) + ") = (" + String(as.Rhs) + ")"
+		} else {
+			str = String(s)
 		}
-		p.syntaxError(fmt.Sprintf("%s used as value", str))
+		p.syntaxErrorAt(s.Pos(), fmt.Sprintf("cannot use %s as value", str))
 	}
 
 	p.xnest = outer