R. Clayton (rclayton@monmouth.edu)
(no date)
How should maximum_placement() report an error if the map is incorrect?
Throw an exception perhaps?
If a calling procedure fails to follow the specifications for the input
parameters, the called procedure is allowed to exhibit arbitrary behavior.
This is a characteristic of a design method known as design by contract,
promoted by Betrand Meyer and supported by the Eiffel programming language.
As a practical matter, I'm of the opinion that code should fail reliably,
obviously, and explicitly. My code generally tends to fail immediately with a
core dump and an informative error message; that way I know exactly where the
error occurred, what the error is, and I have a body to autopsy.
Other people and prefer a less obtrusive approach, such as throwing an
exception. There are some interesting software debates over this matter (such
as: if an unnoticed error occurs in code, is it really there?), but I
constantly tinker with my code (so my errors tend not to remain unnoticed for
long) and I don't have a lot of time to spend looking for errors. Exploding
early and often works well for me. You should experiment with different
approaches and see what works well for you.
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