Re: [boost] [announce] Overload V2

From: Kevin Scarr (kscarr_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-03-22 07:12:26

Marco Costalba wrote:
 > >
 > > Other options that I have evaluated are:
 > >
 > > - Assert instead of NULL dereferencing: does not gain much at
 > > run-time, always a crash occurs
 > >
 > > - Silently fail, as example returning a default value: much more
 > > dangerous then segfaulting IMHO
 > >
 > > Any suggestion? (compile time assert does not seem an option because
 > > it's related to the runtime value stored in an auto_ptr pointer).
 > >

I guess you considered throwing an exception eg argument_error. If you
don't mind me asking (its the way to learn) if you did reject throwing
an exception, why?

On the surface it seems that throwing at least allows the possibility of
graceful termination for programs (I do realise uncaught exceptions
still abort the program without cleanup), so I suspect there must be
something deeper that I have missed.

Kevin