

Error Handling Without Throwing Your Hands Up - GarethX
http://underscore.io/blog/posts/2015/02/13/error-handling-without-throwing-your-hands-up.html

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justinsb
I disagree pretty strongly with the idea that: "there is no way of telling
that [a method] may throw an exception". If you want reliable code, you have
assume that _every_ method can throw an exception. (Or, assume that methods
that don't throw are the exception, like C++ 'noexcept')

This also ignores the fact that Java considers exceptions part of the method
signature. Without opening the whole can of worms as to whether that was a
good or a bad design decision, it seems a little perverse to talk about Java,
but then choose a language (Scala) that deliberately hides the exceptions, and
then complain they are hidden.

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noelwelsh
The implicit context here is that Underscore is a Scala consultancy, and thus
the language under discussion is Scala. Many Scala developers come from a Java
background (or indeed, most other languages that are not statically typed
functional languages) and thus use Java idioms in Scala. "Java without the
semi-colons" is the phrase used for this kind of code in the Scala community.

As for assuming that every method can throw an exception, yes in Scala and
Java and most other languages you do have to have some top level exception
handler. However the goal of modern type systems is to have the types an
accurate reflection of effects of the method, so that the type system can
catch errors for you. This post is about how you can do that.

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legulere
Only talking about java when the code seems to be Scala is kind of confusing

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noelwelsh
Many Scala developers come from a Java background where using exceptions is
the norm, and apply Java idioms to Scala. That's why Java is mentioned. To
quote: "using an idiomatic Java way of handling invalid input".

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afandian
Not sure if American English has the phrase 'to throw up'* but to my English
brain this title conjures up a very amusing but strange image.

* vomit

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pluma
"throwing X up" is different from "throwing up X", I think[0].

Compare "I was throwing my lunch up" vs "I was throwing up my lunch". A bit
like "black" \+ "bird" (i.e. a bird with black feathers) vs "blackbird" (i.e.
any subspecies of the genus Turdus or some icterid birds) -- "throwing" \+
"up" (i.e. throwing something in an upwards direction) vs "throwing up" (i.e.
expunging the contents of your stomach).

[0]: see
[http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/throw+hands+up](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/throw+hands+up)

~~~
afandian
I would understand "I was throwing my lunch up" vs "I was throwing up my
lunch" to be completely equivalent.

I've never heard the form of words "to throw one's hands up", but it's obvious
what it means. Therefore "throwing my hands up" and "throwing up my hands"
make equal sense and are equally humorous.

(Not that it matters, of course there's no real ambiguity here)

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hydrogen18
What an interesting website. With that color scheme it appears they don't
actually intend to have visitors read the text.

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davegurnell
I had a hand in the design of this site. The font looks ok to me on OS X but
too light in IE8-10. I've upped the weight in IE. Hope that helps.

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mbrd
It has the same problem on Windows 7 + Chrome.

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davegurnell
Sigh. Different font rendering engines. I made the font blacker too. I'll
review it again next week. Thanks for the feedback, all.

