Re: Call for Review: RFC for Error Handling in PHP5 packages

On Thu, 05 Aug 2004 20:58:40 -0400, Hans Lellelid <hans@velum.net> wrote: > HI Justin, > > Justin Patrin wrote: > > Hmmm...there's nothing in Coding Guidelines like the following: > > > > You must use Exceptions for code errors. > > Well, it does say: > > "Error conditions in PEAR packages written for PHP5 must be signaled > using exceptions." > > Did you mean something different? (What are "code errors"?) > > > Also, there's no mention of the possiblity of returning status codes > > instead of throwing an Exception. See discussion: > > > > > > http://wiki.ciaweb.net/yawiki/?area=PEAR_Dev&page=RfcExceptionUse#toc27 > > > > IMHO, all failures should be required to be an exception. Return > > values for statuses may be used, but if functions such as > > checkAuthentication(), not authenticate(). If you call authenticate(), > > you're assuming the function *will* authenticate. If it fails, it is > > nto doing what the function says it will do....namely authenticate. > > Yeah, this is a tricky one. I don't know if the Exception RFC really > needs to describe this scenario, but perhaps a line like "other return > types may be acceptible in certain situations". > Personally I think that this is self explanatory, in the way that the RFC is describing Exceptions for *error handling*, although there is a section on not using them to get out of deep recursion, which could be extended I guess. > If I were writing it, authenticate() would return FALSE if it couldn't > authenticate and the reason would be available via separate means (i.e. > getReason()). Arguably an Exception would work too. Basically, there > needs to be some room for interpretation, as it will be impossible to > define what needs to be an exception, what can be a warning, what can > simply be valid return values for a function. I think PEAR developers > are sharp enough to make most of these decisions on their own, but > doesn't mean the RFC shouldn't mention that. > > Cheers, > Hans > > > > -- > PEAR Development Mailing List (http://pear.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >