Ok, it looks like the consensus of most of the answers is that returning undef is normal. But I'd still like to make it harder for the unwary programmers to forget to check the return. I'm suggesting to my co-workers that constructors that can return undef be named "fallible_new" instead of just "new". That might be a little obnoxious, but it would help prevent bugs.

In reply to Re: Re: Should a constructor ever return undef? (yes) by tall_man
in thread Should a constructor ever return undef? by tall_man

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