In my experience, the multiple-return `, err` convention and the `:=` syntax sugar are constantly clashing. It's confusing because the `err` is reused, but stil

In my experience, the multiple-return `, err` convention and the `:=` syntax sugar are constantly clashing. It's confusing because the `err` is reused, but still has to be created at some point; and because `:=` is allowed even if only one variable is being created, but forbidden if you're only assigning. It doesn't always lead to a bug, but it's always frustrating. Even when restricting the problem to a single (non-error) return value, there are 6 combinations to consider: * What do you do with the non-error return value? (none/assign/create) * Is it the first time you've checked an error? (yes/no) none, yes | err := f() none, no | err = f() assign, yes | var err error; r, err = f() assign, no | r, err = f() create, yes | r, err := f() create, no | r, err := f() The shadowing case comes up infrequently enough to surprise you when it does. You've been trained by the other examples to change `=` to `:=` when you see a certain error, and you don't always get a warning about the shadow this creates.