Re: Some same exceptions used in a given file

Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> writes:


  I came to recognize four grades of code (ignoring shades of
  grey between them):

    - q&d code: Get a job done as fast as possible, then
      throw away the code, assume all operations will work
      as intended, i.e., when opening a file, assume it is
      there. Assume, the programer is present when the
      program is running, so that he can fix any problems
      as they are observed. In case of run-time errors,
      the behavior is undefined.

    - q&d+ code: In case of run-time errors, just terminate.
      Think of Perl code like:
      open FILE, "/etc/passwd" or die "Can't open /etc/passed";

    - hq code: Observe all the rules, document everything,
      write exception-safe code, clean up resources as
      early as possible, refactor, write tests, ...

    - library-grade code: is hq code written so that it can be
      put into a library, its methods communicate only via
      their interface, not with the environment, and always
      return to the caller.

  Sometimes q&d code is appropriate, and for such code, one
  might event write utilities, such as

java.io.BufferedReader qndFopen( String path )
{ java.io.BufferedReader result = null;
  try
  { result = new java.io.BufferedReader
    ( new java.io.InputStreamReader
      ( new java.io.FileInputStream( path ))); }
  catch( final Exception e ){}
  return result; }

  Now, if that exception is not just ignored, but the program
  is terminated with an error report, this already is on the
  q&d+ level, i.e., one step higher on the quality ladder:

java.io.BufferedReader qndpFopen( String path )
{ java.io.BufferedReader result = null;
  try
  { result = new java.io.BufferedReader
    ( new java.io.InputStreamReader
      ( new java.io.FileInputStream( path ))); }
  catch( final Exception e )
  { java.lang.System.err.println( e );
    System.exit( 1 ); }
  return result; }

  It is still not library-grade, of course, but sometimes
  approriate. It also might be another idea for what the OP
  was looking for.