in reply to Re: <rant>CPAN modules failing to check for write errors</rant>
in thread <rant>CPAN modules failing to check for write errors</rant>

Thanks for the reply.

I appreciate throwing exceptions can be a pain in the **** - Java seems to have taken this to the extreme and it's hard to say if that's good or bad.

Actually I don't mind if a method/function returns true/false as long as I can easily find out what the error was and where it occurred - I think exceptions are the way to go when building larger applications, but can be overkill for small scripts. BUT I do need to know if an error occurred :)

The only reason why I'm loathed to write an article directly to perl.com is because I'm not a known name in the community, but yes I might knock something up and post it here for review. Anything to get authors just thinking about things anyway!

  • Comment on Re: Re: <rant>CPAN modules failing to check for write errors</rant>

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Re: Re: Re: <rant>CPAN modules failing to check for write errors</rant>
by jepri (Parson) on May 29, 2004 at 13:02 UTC
    I appreciate throwing exceptions can be a pain in the **** - Java seems to have taken this to the extreme

    As a sysadmin (I seem to be saying that a lot thesedays), I've seen uncaught exceptions on some genuinely insignificant errors. Plus, since they are written for programmers, the error messages are mostly useless for sysadmins. If error messages aren't going to be useful for users or sysadmins, I question their usefulness in production code.

    I agree with the 'know if error occurred', but I'd argue that showing it to the user should be the last ditch desperation response, not the default fallback. I found this with smalltalk, which would throw me a popup window for any uncaught exception - as if anyone is going to use a system like that!

    Please do write your article up. The highest quality articles I've seen on Perlmonks have been by authors who have been annoyed beyond endurance by a 'feature' of perl, or a community shortfall. Well thought out critiscism of perl is a staple here.

    ____________________
    Jeremy
    I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.

[reply]
      I agree with the 'know if error occurred', but I'd argue that showing it to the user should be the last ditch desperation response, not the default fallback.
      Not being able to print to an open filehandle seems serious enough to me to warrant an exception (though I must confess that my modules don't check for it)
      "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"
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