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Ask HN: doesn't runtime exceptions and unit tests share the same goal?
I still see many programmers guarding runtime errors using "ifs". Which is ridiculous and leads to programs very hard to debug. Which then kind-of leads to the use (and importance) of unit tests. Any thought on that?
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y agoHow does the existence of a unit test suite, no matter how good, preclude against a runtime error?
- viraptor 10y ago> Which is ridiculous and leads to programs very hard to debug What's the alternative in your opinion? Let's say you're trying to open a file. It can fail. You've got to check this.
- liveoneggs 10y agoYou sound like a great candidate for Erlang!
- gt2 10y agoCouldn't the ifs have other purpose, such as branching to perform other operations in those cases? Also, consider that if the entire block isn't wrapped in a try/catch, those ifs are guarding against runtime errors which would crash the program for the user. Although I do see unit tests making use of exceptions in their decision to pass/fail, it's not the only way to write a unit test-- sometimes you test for value, etc.
- bbcbasic 10y agoCan you give an example and how you'd re factor it. I'm having a hard time visualising what you mean. I have seen code that catches any exception and returns false. That is annoying although for different reasons.