From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id SAA04341; Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:53:17 +0200 (MET DST) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id SAA04530 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:53:16 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from herd.plethora.net (herd.plethora.net [205.166.146.1]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i6FGrESH021754 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:53:15 +0200 Received: from bhurt.plethora.net (bhurt.plethora.net [205.166.146.49]) by herd.plethora.net (8.11.6/8.10.1) with ESMTP id i6FGqvi18444; Thu, 15 Jul 2004 11:53:02 -0500 (CDT) Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 12:00:07 -0500 (CDT) From: Brian Hurt X-X-Sender: bhurt@localhost.localdomain To: John Hughes cc: "'Ocaml Mailing List'" Subject: RE: [Caml-list] Unboxing options, was RE: assertions or exceptions? In-Reply-To: <20040715162459.54A1310EF06@clark.cs.brown.edu> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Miltered: at concorde with ID 40F6B67A.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Loop: caml-list@inria.fr X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 unboxing:01 assertions:01 readable:01 exception:02 exception:02 wrote:03 arguments:03 redirect:95 exceptions:04 exceptions:04 efficient:05 jul:06 i'd:06 brian:06 Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk On Thu, 15 Jul 2004, John Hughes wrote: > I'd like to suggest that this isn't really a problem. > The key is the idea of "exception", which is that it's > an *exception* to what ordinarily happens. The same goes > for errors -- they should be exceptional. As such, making the > code associated with these things more efficient (as opposed > to more readable, maintainable, whatever else) should be WAAAY > down on your priority list. There are a lot of places where the question isn't exceptions vr.s options, where options are the only choice (optional arguments, for one). And some times exceptions are less exceptional than they might otherwise be- when you're reading all the lines from a file, hitting the end of file sooner or later is expected. -- "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." - Gene Spafford Brian ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners