Re: error() or nil, 'error msg'

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2014-09-11 2:43 GMT+02:00 Rena <hyperhacker@gmail.com>:

> The idiom I've heard and used is that returning (nil, errmsg) is for
> runtime errors, and error() is for programming errors. So e.g.:
> return nil, "Failed to open file: access denied"
> vs:
> error("Invalid argument to method frobulate (expected number)")

The question one should ask is: could one reasonably expect
the calling routine have a nice way of recovering from this error?
If so, return nil,error_obj; otherwise abort.

And assert only tautologies, in order to assist documentation.
It says "If we get here, the following condition is guaranteed
to be true." in a way that inspires confidence.