A recent thread got me to start using Error.pm for error handling. I spent about three years coding Java before I started using Perl a lot, so I am familer with the idea behind this kind of exception handling.

Java has Javadocs, which is analgous to POD, except not as flexible and it carries some very Java-specific idioms. One of those specific idioms is documenting exceptions a method can throw (excuse me if this isn't quite right, as I've been away from Java for a while):

/**
 * Lauch Nuclear Missles.
 * 
 * @throws LaunchException  Failed to launch
 * @throws ExplodeException Failed to explode
 */
public void launchNuclearMissles(int megatons) 
    throws LaunchException, ExplodeException
{
    // Code which could throw a LaunchException and 
    // an ExplodeException
}

[download]

POD doesn't have an equivilent form. What I'm currently thinking of is along these lines:

=head2 launch_nuclear_missles 

  launch_nuclear_missles( $megatons );

  THROWS: 
  LaunchException  -- Failed to launch
  ExplodeException -- Failed to explode

Launches nuclear missles.

=cut

[download]

There is no whitespace on the line between the subroutine definition and the THROWS: line, so there will be a logical seperation between them (especially when viewing on search.cpan.org's box-style for fixed-width portions of POD). I'm not sure if this is really the best way to do it, and would like input on other potential methods.

----
I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
-- Schemer

Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated

In reply to Documenting Thrown Exceptions by hardburn

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