note
rir
You mentioned <code>goto</code>s and <code>return</code>s. On this
list should be the closer cousin: semaphore flags. Flags are worse
than exceptions because they are advisory.
<p>
<i>I want my file and line number captured.</i>
<p>
That goes into the message.
<p>
I was not complaining nor was I trying to change your mind (or practices);
even brilliant men can disagree.
<p>
<i>
I'd prefer to be uninformative to users, but detailed to developers.
</i><p>
With objects one can inform both appropriately.
<p><i>
if it comes to wanting to discriminate one exception, my first question is why you want to do that
</i><p>
An example: A fair sized body of code, being 7 or more calls deep,
explores the
environment of the program. The scope of the environment is expanded and
now failure to access a few resources is no longer reason to exit, instead
by expressing the problem at the new top level,
a separate tree of code
is able to substitute some of the new resources instead.
So now we want to
discriminate a few exceptions from the many. Capturing some data to present
to the user may also be appropriate.
<p>
That your fingers are trained to type <code>confess</code>
is a valid and compelling reason to practice as you do, but it gave
me a laugh. I thought of some programmer trying to use that as
a justification to his boss--what made that image really funny is that
such idiocynratic issues can have a serious impact on productivity.
<p>
<i>
For the simple case, objects are worse than strings. If ... more complex,
then objects are an obvious win.
</i><p>
I agree with your opinion as you summarize it.
<p>
Be well,<br>
rir
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