From e1a86fe7e5e19be32e60b4d69f7605b4e3a6f0a5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2020 14:06:19 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 1/7] adding unit tests for new __str__ functionality

---
 pymc3/tests/test_distributions.py | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/tests/test_distributions.py b/pymc3/tests/test_distributions.py
index fbfb74ab195..212fa1d6062 100644
--- a/pymc3/tests/test_distributions.py
+++ b/pymc3/tests/test_distributions.py
@@ -1771,7 +1771,7 @@ def test_bound():
         BoundPoissonPositionalArgs = Bound(Poisson, upper=6)("x", 2.0)
 
 
-class TestLatex:
+class TestStrAndLatexRepr:
     def setup_class(self):
         # True parameter values
         alpha, sigma = 1, 1
@@ -1800,7 +1800,7 @@ def setup_class(self):
             # Likelihood (sampling distribution) of observations
             Y_obs = Normal("Y_obs", mu=mu, sigma=sigma, observed=Y)
         self.distributions = [alpha, sigma, mu, b, Z, Y_obs]
-        self.expected = (
+        self.expected_latex = (
             r"$\text{alpha} \sim \text{Normal}(\mathit{mu}=0.0,~\mathit{sigma}=10.0)$",
             r"$\text{sigma} \sim \text{HalfNormal}(\mathit{sigma}=1.0)$",
             r"$\text{mu} \sim \text{Deterministic}(\text{alpha},~\text{Constant},~\text{beta})$",
@@ -1808,22 +1808,38 @@ def setup_class(self):
             r"$\text{Z} \sim \text{MvNormal}(\mathit{mu}=array,~\mathit{chol_cov}=array)$",
             r"$\text{Y_obs} \sim \text{Normal}(\mathit{mu}=\text{mu},~\mathit{sigma}=f(\text{sigma}))$",
         )
+        self.expected_str = (
+            r"alpha ~ Normal(mu=0.0, sigma=10.0)",
+            r"sigma ~ HalfNormal(sigma=1.0)",
+            r"mu ~ Deterministic(alpha, Constant, beta)",
+            r"beta ~ Normal(mu=0.0, sigma=10.0)",
+            r"Z ~ MvNormal(mu=array, chol_cov=array)",
+            r"Y_obs ~ Normal(mu=mu, sigma=f(sigma))",
+        )
 
     def test__repr_latex_(self):
-        for distribution, tex in zip(self.distributions, self.expected):
+        for distribution, tex in zip(self.distributions, self.expected_latex):
             assert distribution._repr_latex_() == tex
 
         model_tex = self.model._repr_latex_()
 
-        for tex in self.expected:  # make sure each variable is in the model
+        for tex in self.expected_latex:  # make sure each variable is in the model
             for segment in tex.strip("$").split(r"\sim"):
                 assert segment in model_tex
 
     def test___latex__(self):
-        for distribution, tex in zip(self.distributions, self.expected):
+        for distribution, tex in zip(self.distributions, self.expected_latex):
             assert distribution._repr_latex_() == distribution.__latex__()
         assert self.model._repr_latex_() == self.model.__latex__()
 
+    def test___str__(self):
+        for distribution, str_repr in zip(self.distributions, self.expected_str):
+            assert distribution.__str__() == str_repr
+
+        model_str = self.model.__str__()
+        for str_repr in self.expected_str:
+            assert str_repr in model_str
+
 
 def test_discrete_trafo():
     with pytest.raises(ValueError) as err:

From d73c27e016a5189978e6e57b30e4b70583d4e090 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2020 16:12:08 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 2/7] use get_var_name instead of str to get variable name

---
 pymc3/backends/base.py                      |  9 +++++----
 pymc3/backends/sqlite.py                    |  3 ++-
 pymc3/blocking.py                           |  4 +++-
 pymc3/distributions/distribution.py         |  4 ++--
 pymc3/distributions/posterior_predictive.py |  8 ++++----
 pymc3/model.py                              |  5 +++--
 pymc3/model_graph.py                        |  4 ++--
 pymc3/step_methods/arraystep.py             |  3 ++-
 pymc3/tests/sampler_fixtures.py             |  3 ++-
 pymc3/tuning/scaling.py                     |  3 ++-
 pymc3/tuning/starting.py                    |  5 +++--
 pymc3/util.py                               | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 12 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/backends/base.py b/pymc3/backends/base.py
index 57b0984b2a6..a08abacb83d 100644
--- a/pymc3/backends/base.py
+++ b/pymc3/backends/base.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
 from ..model import modelcontext, Model
 from .report import SamplerReport, merge_reports
+from ..util import get_var_name
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('pymc3')
 
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ def _set_sampler_vars(self, sampler_vars):
         self.sampler_vars = sampler_vars
 
     # pylint: disable=unused-argument
-    def setup(self, draws, chain, sampler_vars=None) -> None: 
+    def setup(self, draws, chain, sampler_vars=None) -> None:
         """Perform chain-specific setup.
 
         Parameters
@@ -335,7 +336,7 @@ def __getitem__(self, idx):
             var = idx
             burn, thin = 0, 1
 
-        var = str(var)
+        var = get_var_name(var)
         if var in self.varnames:
             if var in self.stat_names:
                 warnings.warn("Attribute access on a trace object is ambigous. "
@@ -355,7 +356,7 @@ def __getattr__(self, name):
         if name in self._attrs:
             raise AttributeError
 
-        name = str(name)
+        name = get_var_name(name)
         if name in self.varnames:
             if name in self.stat_names:
                 warnings.warn("Attribute access on a trace object is ambigous. "
@@ -482,7 +483,7 @@ def get_values(self, varname, burn=0, thin=1, combine=True, chains=None,
         """
         if chains is None:
             chains = self.chains
-        varname = str(varname)
+        varname = get_var_name(varname)
         try:
             results = [self._straces[chain].get_values(varname, burn, thin)
                        for chain in chains]
diff --git a/pymc3/backends/sqlite.py b/pymc3/backends/sqlite.py
index 3dc93b3e34d..ad9bd3d0a13 100644
--- a/pymc3/backends/sqlite.py
+++ b/pymc3/backends/sqlite.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 
 from ..backends import base, ndarray
 from . import tracetab as ttab
+from ..util import get_var_name
 
 TEMPLATES = {
     'table':            ('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS [{table}] '
@@ -244,7 +245,7 @@ def get_values(self, varname, burn=0, thin=1):
         if thin < 1:
             raise ValueError('Only positive thin values are supported '
                              'in SQLite backend.')
-        varname = str(varname)
+        varname = get_var_name(varname)
 
         statement_args = {'chain': self.chain}
         if burn == 0 and thin == 1:
diff --git a/pymc3/blocking.py b/pymc3/blocking.py
index 67dc658e2cc..c915e42fd2b 100644
--- a/pymc3/blocking.py
+++ b/pymc3/blocking.py
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 import collections
 
+from ..util import get_var_name
+
 __all__ = ['ArrayOrdering', 'DictToArrayBijection', 'DictToVarBijection']
 
 VarMap = collections.namedtuple('VarMap', 'var, slc, shp, dtyp')
@@ -237,7 +239,7 @@ class DictToVarBijection:
     """
 
     def __init__(self, var, idx, dpoint):
-        self.var = str(var)
+        self.var = get_var_name(var)
         self.idx = idx
         self.dpt = dpoint
 
diff --git a/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py b/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
index 5d58c4ccf04..02507f988e4 100644
--- a/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
+++ b/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import theano.tensor as tt
 from theano import function
-from ..util import get_repr_for_variable
+from ..util import get_repr_for_variable, get_var_name
 import theano
 from ..memoize import memoize
 from ..model import (
@@ -728,7 +728,7 @@ def draw_values(params, point=None, size=None):
         missing_inputs = set([j for j, p in symbolic_params])
         while to_eval or missing_inputs:
             if to_eval == missing_inputs:
-                raise ValueError('Cannot resolve inputs for {}'.format([str(params[j]) for j in to_eval]))
+                raise ValueError('Cannot resolve inputs for {}'.format([get_var_name(params[j]) for j in to_eval]))
             to_eval = set(missing_inputs)
             missing_inputs = set()
             for param_idx in to_eval:
diff --git a/pymc3/distributions/posterior_predictive.py b/pymc3/distributions/posterior_predictive.py
index 5c7bab07ef9..ff54f94da2d 100644
--- a/pymc3/distributions/posterior_predictive.py
+++ b/pymc3/distributions/posterior_predictive.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
 )
 from ..exceptions import IncorrectArgumentsError
 from ..vartypes import theano_constant
-from ..util import dataset_to_point_dict, chains_and_samples
+from ..util import dataset_to_point_dict, chains_and_samples, get_var_name
 
 # Failing tests:
 #    test_mixture_random_shape::test_mixture_random_shape
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ def draw_values(self) -> List[np.ndarray]:
                 if to_eval == missing_inputs:
                     raise ValueError(
                         "Cannot resolve inputs for {}".format(
-                            [str(trace.varnames[j]) for j in to_eval]
+                            [get_var_name(trace.varnames[j]) for j in to_eval]
                         )
                     )
                 to_eval = set(missing_inputs)
@@ -493,7 +493,7 @@ def draw_values(self) -> List[np.ndarray]:
         return [self.evaluated[j] for j in params]
 
     def init(self) -> None:
-        """This method carries out the initialization phase of sampling 
+        """This method carries out the initialization phase of sampling
     from the posterior predictive distribution.  Notably it initializes the
     ``_DrawValuesContext`` bookkeeping object and evaluates the "fast drawable"
     parts of the model."""
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ def draw_value(self, param, trace: Optional[_TraceDict] = None, givens=None):
             The value or distribution. Constants or shared variables
             will be converted to an array and returned. Theano variables
             are evaluated. If `param` is a pymc3 random variable, draw
-            values from it and return that (as ``np.ndarray``), unless a 
+            values from it and return that (as ``np.ndarray``), unless a
             value is specified in the ``trace``.
         trace: pm.MultiTrace, optional
             A dictionary from pymc3 variable names to samples of their values
diff --git a/pymc3/model.py b/pymc3/model.py
index cae3e12ca53..f619b4d3083 100644
--- a/pymc3/model.py
+++ b/pymc3/model.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 from .theanof import gradient, hessian, inputvars, generator
 from .vartypes import typefilter, discrete_types, continuous_types, isgenerator
 from .blocking import DictToArrayBijection, ArrayOrdering
-from .util import get_transformed_name
+from .util import get_transformed_name, get_var_name
 from .exceptions import ImputationWarning
 
 __all__ = [
@@ -1480,7 +1480,8 @@ def Point(*args, **kwargs):
     except Exception as e:
         raise TypeError("can't turn {} and {} into a dict. {}".format(args, kwargs, e))
     return dict(
-        (str(k), np.array(v)) for k, v in d.items() if str(k) in map(str, model.vars)
+        (get_var_name(k), np.array(v)) for k, v in d.items()
+         if get_var_name(k) in map(get_var_name, model.vars)
     )
 
 
diff --git a/pymc3/model_graph.py b/pymc3/model_graph.py
index dd9f6caaab4..4f67b624dad 100644
--- a/pymc3/model_graph.py
+++ b/pymc3/model_graph.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from theano.compile import SharedVariable
 from theano.tensor import Tensor
 
-from .util import get_default_varnames
+from .util import get_default_varnames, get_var_name
 from .model import ObservedRV
 import pymc3 as pm
 
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def _filter_parents(self, var, parents) -> Set[VarName]:
                 if self.transform_map[p] != var.name:
                     keep.add(self.transform_map[p])
             else:
-                raise AssertionError('Do not know what to do with {}'.format(str(p)))
+                raise AssertionError('Do not know what to do with {}'.format(get_var_name(p)))
         return keep
 
     def get_parents(self, var: Tensor) -> Set[VarName]:
diff --git a/pymc3/step_methods/arraystep.py b/pymc3/step_methods/arraystep.py
index fde0a3f6707..eae1ce703c9 100644
--- a/pymc3/step_methods/arraystep.py
+++ b/pymc3/step_methods/arraystep.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 from ..model import modelcontext
 from ..theanof import inputvars
 from ..blocking import ArrayOrdering, DictToArrayBijection
+from ..util import get_var_name
 import numpy as np
 from numpy.random import uniform
 from enum import IntEnum, unique
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ def __init__(self, vars, shared, blocked=True):
         """
         self.vars = vars
         self.ordering = ArrayOrdering(vars)
-        self.shared = {str(var): shared for var, shared in shared.items()}
+        self.shared = {get_var_name(var): shared for var, shared in shared.items()}
         self.blocked = blocked
         self.bij = None
 
diff --git a/pymc3/tests/sampler_fixtures.py b/pymc3/tests/sampler_fixtures.py
index 94b8741fa8a..967a3bd014b 100644
--- a/pymc3/tests/sampler_fixtures.py
+++ b/pymc3/tests/sampler_fixtures.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #   limitations under the License.
 
 import pymc3 as pm
+from pymc3.util import get_var_name
 import numpy as np
 import numpy.testing as npt
 from scipy import stats
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ def setup_class(cls):
             cls.trace = pm.sample(cls.n_samples, tune=cls.tune, step=cls.step, cores=cls.chains)
         cls.samples = {}
         for var in cls.model.unobserved_RVs:
-            cls.samples[str(var)] = cls.trace.get_values(var, burn=cls.burn)
+            cls.samples[get_var_name(var)] = cls.trace.get_values(var, burn=cls.burn)
 
     def test_neff(self):
         if hasattr(self, 'min_n_eff'):
diff --git a/pymc3/tuning/scaling.py b/pymc3/tuning/scaling.py
index 37f7079199a..cce7a09d2d5 100644
--- a/pymc3/tuning/scaling.py
+++ b/pymc3/tuning/scaling.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from ..model import modelcontext, Point
 from ..theanof import hessian_diag, inputvars
 from ..blocking import DictToArrayBijection, ArrayOrdering
+from ..util import get_var_name
 
 __all__ = ['find_hessian', 'trace_cov', 'guess_scaling']
 
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ def trace_cov(trace, vars=None, model=None):
         vars = trace.varnames
 
     def flat_t(var):
-        x = trace[str(var)]
+        x = trace[get_var_name(var)]
         return x.reshape((x.shape[0], np.prod(x.shape[1:], dtype=int)))
 
     return np.cov(np.concatenate(list(map(flat_t, vars)), 1).T)
diff --git a/pymc3/tuning/starting.py b/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
index ae81a80c2a9..f9078cdc163 100644
--- a/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
+++ b/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 from ..theanof import inputvars
 import theano.gradient as tg
 from ..blocking import DictToArrayBijection, ArrayOrdering
-from ..util import update_start_vals, get_default_varnames
+from ..util import update_start_vals, get_default_varnames, get_var_name
 
 import warnings
 from inspect import getargspec
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ def nan_to_high(x):
 def allinmodel(vars, model):
     notin = [v for v in vars if v not in model.vars]
     if notin:
-        raise ValueError("Some variables not in the model: " + str(notin))
+        notin = list(map(get_var_name, notin))
+        raise ValueError("Some variables not in the model: " + notin)
 
 
 class CostFuncWrapper:
diff --git a/pymc3/util.py b/pymc3/util.py
index 46e35d595cf..2b9bfa440be 100644
--- a/pymc3/util.py
+++ b/pymc3/util.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 import arviz
 from numpy import asscalar, ndarray
 
+from theano.tensor import TensorVariable
+
 
 LATEX_ESCAPE_RE = re.compile(r"(%|_|\$|#|&)", re.MULTILINE)
 
@@ -121,7 +123,7 @@ def get_default_varnames(var_iterator, include_transformed):
     if include_transformed:
         return list(var_iterator)
     else:
-        return [var for var in var_iterator if not is_transformed_name(str(var))]
+        return [var for var in var_iterator if not is_transformed_name(get_var_name(var))]
 
 
 def get_repr_for_variable(variable, formatting="plain"):
@@ -153,6 +155,18 @@ def get_repr_for_variable(variable, formatting="plain"):
         return name
 
 
+def get_var_name(var):
+    """ Get an appropriate, plain variable name for a variable. Necessary
+    because we override theano.tensor.TensorVariable.__str__ to give informative
+    string representations to our pymc3.PyMC3Variables, yet we want to use the
+    plain name as e.g. keys in dicts.
+    """
+    if isinstance(var, TensorVariable):
+        return super(TensorVariable, var).__str__()
+    else:
+        return str(var)
+
+
 def update_start_vals(a, b, model):
     r"""Update a with b, without overwriting existing keys. Values specified for
     transformed variables on the original scale are also transformed and inserted.

From 254b9fb39ae6e7c1f5743edecd1ebbfb511afa2e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2020 16:21:04 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 3/7] adding semantically meaningful __str__

---
 pymc3/distributions/distribution.py | 3 +++
 pymc3/model.py                      | 7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py b/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
index 02507f988e4..e39c109b6bb 100644
--- a/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
+++ b/pymc3/distributions/distribution.py
@@ -174,6 +174,9 @@ def _str_repr(self, name=None, dist=None, formatting='plain'):
             return "{var_name} ~ {distr_name}({params})".format(var_name=name,
                 distr_name=dist._distr_name_for_repr(), params=param_string)
 
+    def __str__(self, **kwargs):
+        return self._str_repr(formatting="plain", **kwargs)
+
     def _repr_latex_(self, **kwargs):
         """Magic method name for IPython to use for LaTeX formatting."""
         return self._str_repr(formatting="latex", **kwargs)
diff --git a/pymc3/model.py b/pymc3/model.py
index f619b4d3083..bfab8a38f4c 100644
--- a/pymc3/model.py
+++ b/pymc3/model.py
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ def _str_repr(self, name=None, dist=None, formatting="plain"):
     def _repr_latex_(self, **kwargs):
         return self._str_repr(formatting="latex", **kwargs)
 
+    def __str__(self, **kwargs):
+        return self._str_repr(formatting="plain", **kwargs)
+
     __latex__ = _repr_latex_
 
 
@@ -1368,6 +1371,9 @@ def _str_repr(self, formatting="plain", **kwargs):
                 for n, d in zip(names, distrs)]
             return "\n".join(rv_reprs)
 
+    def __str__(self, **kwargs):
+        return self._str_repr(formatting="plain", **kwargs)
+
     def _repr_latex_(self, **kwargs):
         return self._str_repr(formatting="latex", **kwargs)
 
@@ -1873,6 +1879,7 @@ def Deterministic(name, var, model=None, dims=None):
     model.add_random_variable(var, dims)
     var._repr_latex_ = functools.partial(_repr_deterministic_rv, var, formatting='latex')
     var.__latex__ = var._repr_latex_
+    var.__str__ = functools.partial(_repr_deterministic_rv, var, formatting='plain')
     return var
 
 

From 0f34003d746bbf151aef2453e68f2883e83f2ffd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2020 16:22:12 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 4/7] correcting import syntax error

---
 pymc3/blocking.py | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/blocking.py b/pymc3/blocking.py
index c915e42fd2b..03bb23bce17 100644
--- a/pymc3/blocking.py
+++ b/pymc3/blocking.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import collections
 
-from ..util import get_var_name
+from .util import get_var_name
 
 __all__ = ['ArrayOrdering', 'DictToArrayBijection', 'DictToVarBijection']
 

From 66faf244b90a62f601e88c11c2eea22a7dbff593 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2020 16:40:25 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 5/7] patch type of Deterministic to ensure proper handling of
 str()

---
 pymc3/model.py | 9 ++++++++-
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/model.py b/pymc3/model.py
index bfab8a38f4c..68f6b7efd13 100644
--- a/pymc3/model.py
+++ b/pymc3/model.py
@@ -1879,7 +1879,14 @@ def Deterministic(name, var, model=None, dims=None):
     model.add_random_variable(var, dims)
     var._repr_latex_ = functools.partial(_repr_deterministic_rv, var, formatting='latex')
     var.__latex__ = var._repr_latex_
-    var.__str__ = functools.partial(_repr_deterministic_rv, var, formatting='plain')
+
+    # simply assigning var.__str__ is not enough, since str() will default to the class-
+    # defined __str__ anyway; see https://stackoverflow.com/a/5918210/1692028
+    old_type = type(var)
+    new_type = type(old_type.__name__ + '_pymc3_Deterministic', (old_type,),
+        {'__str__': functools.partial(_repr_deterministic_rv, var, formatting='plain')})
+    var.__class__ = new_type
+
     return var
 
 

From 99bfbf7fbd1cd08f946bc56d0d432767af35e8c5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <eelke.spaak@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2020 10:49:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 6/7] adding test for tuning.starting.allinmodel

---
 pymc3/tests/test_starting.py | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 pymc3/tuning/starting.py     |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py b/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
index bbe47c6c55f..741f4ed73ce 100644
--- a/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
+++ b/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 from .models import simple_model, non_normal, simple_arbitrary_det
 from .helpers import select_by_precision
 
+from pytest import raises
+
 
 def test_accuracy_normal():
     _, model, (mu, _) = simple_model()
@@ -83,3 +85,23 @@ def test_find_MAP():
 
     close_to(map_est2['mu'], 0, tol)
     close_to(map_est2['sigma'], 1, tol)
+
+
+def test_allinmodel():
+    model1 = Model()
+    model2 = Model()
+    with model1:
+        x1 = Normal('x1', mu=0, sigma=1)
+        y1 = Normal('y1', mu=0, sigma=1)
+    with model2:
+        x2 = Normal('x2', mu=0, sigma=1)
+        y2 = Normal('y2', mu=0, sigma=1)
+
+    starting.allinmodel([x1, y1], model1)
+    starting.allinmodel([x1], model1)
+    with raises(ValueError):
+        starting.allinmodel([x2, y2], model1)
+    with raises(ValueError):
+        starting.allinmodel([x2, y1], model1)
+    with raises(ValueError):
+        starting.allinmodel([x2], model1)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pymc3/tuning/starting.py b/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
index f9078cdc163..db49ef52aef 100644
--- a/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
+++ b/pymc3/tuning/starting.py
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ def allinmodel(vars, model):
     notin = [v for v in vars if v not in model.vars]
     if notin:
         notin = list(map(get_var_name, notin))
-        raise ValueError("Some variables not in the model: " + notin)
+        raise ValueError("Some variables not in the model: " + str(notin))
 
 
 class CostFuncWrapper:

From 238b278fd855d3b8e92b2e465ed563ae3e521b70 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eelke Spaak <e.spaak@donders.ru.nl>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2020 09:49:32 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 7/7] more precise exception checks in unit test

Co-authored-by: Marco Gorelli <m.e.gorelli@gmail.com>
---
 pymc3/tests/test_starting.py | 8 ++++----
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py b/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
index 741f4ed73ce..6f3e7d61c2a 100644
--- a/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
+++ b/pymc3/tests/test_starting.py
@@ -99,9 +99,9 @@ def test_allinmodel():
 
     starting.allinmodel([x1, y1], model1)
     starting.allinmodel([x1], model1)
-    with raises(ValueError):
+    with raises(ValueError, match=r"Some variables not in the model: \['x2', 'y2'\]"):
         starting.allinmodel([x2, y2], model1)
-    with raises(ValueError):
+    with raises(ValueError, match=r"Some variables not in the model: \['x2'\]"):
         starting.allinmodel([x2, y1], model1)
-    with raises(ValueError):
-        starting.allinmodel([x2], model1)
\ No newline at end of file
+    with raises(ValueError, match=r"Some variables not in the model: \['x2'\]"):
+        starting.allinmodel([x2], model1)