Re: Avoiding side effects

[Jean-Pierre Rosen <rosen@adalog.fr>]

Anders Wirzenius a �crit :
> Please don't feel like I am provocative. I just want to find out
> the difference between exceptions and side effects:
> 
> Why is an exception in this case not considered to be a side
> effect?
> 
To me, an exception is more like a kind of result rather than a side-effect.

A subprogram is intended to provide a certain service; either it can 
provide the intended result, or it must tell the caller, in an 
unambiguous way, that the correct result could not be provided; that's 
what exceptions are for.

If you compare exception with a return code, the difference is that you 
can easily ignore a return code, but not an exception. And remember:
    "There is only one thing worse than a program that crashes:
     a program that gives wrong, but likely results."
-- 
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            J-P. Rosen (rosen@adalog.fr)
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