3 ms·
> Demanding that my services always returned correct-looking data, even if it wasn’t available Ah yes, the age old "special values will signal an error, so we
by brookst 2y ago
> Demanding that my services always returned correct-looking data, even if it wasn’t available
Ah yes, the age old "special values will signal an error, so we don't have to deal with error handling" approach. Which is always either a pitch for reinventing error handling in novel and ad hoc ways (usually bad), or for disregarding error handling altogether (always bad, sometimes entertaining).
- dkarl 2y agoSpot on. Part of it is wanting errors-as-values without knowing what that is (which is good and contains a kernel of real insight), and part of it is assuming that error handling can be a negligible fraction of the work (which is the opposite of the truth and can only be achieved by doing a poor job of it.)