[blog] add a post about error message improvements

docs/_posts/2022-08-04-pretty-errors.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Pretty error messages
+excerpt: Error message improvements
+---
+
+*(This change will be in the upcoming v0.11.0 release)*
+
+Taking a page from compilers like rustc, I've spent some time
+improving error messages to make them look nicer and be more
+helpful. Fortunately, SQLite has improved their error reporting
+as well by adding
+[sqlite3_error_offset()](http://sqlite.com/c3ref/errcode.html).
+This function can point to the part of the SQL statement that
+was in error. As an example of the improvement, a SQL file
+that contained the following content:
+
+```sql
+
+-- This is a test
+SELECT abc),
+rtrim(def)
+FROM mytable;
+```
+
+Would report an error like the following on startup in v0.10.1:
+
+```text
+error:/Users/tstack/.config/lnav/formats/installed/test.sql:2:near ")": syntax error
+```
+
+Now, you will get a clearer error message with a syntax-highlighted
+code snippet and a pointer to the part of the code that has the
+problem:
+
+![Screenshot of a SQL error](/assets/images/lnav-sql-error-msg.png)
+
+Inside the TUI, a panel has been added at the bottom to display these
+long-form error messages. The panel will disappear after a short
+time or when input is received. Here is an example showing an error
+for an invalid regular expression:
+
+<script id="asciicast-lmYMLZsB02WbSO8VEz4aVLXa1"
+        src="https://asciinema.org/a/lmYMLZsB02WbSO8VEz4aVLXa1.js"
+        async>
+</script>