X-Git-Url: http://nitlanguage.org

diff --git a/lib/core/error.nit b/lib/core/error.nit
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+# This file is part of NIT ( http://www.nitlanguage.org ).
+#
+# This file is free software, which comes along with NIT.  This software is
+# distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+# without  even  the implied warranty of  MERCHANTABILITY or  FITNESS FOR A
+# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  You can modify it is you want,  provided this header
+# is kept unaltered, and a notification of the changes is added.
+# You  are  allowed  to  redistribute it and sell it, alone or is a part of
+# another product.
+
+# Standard error-management infrastructure.
+#
+module error
+
+import text
+
+# Standard class for error messages
+class Error
+	# A short human-readable error message.
+	#
+	# This message is short and informative and could be displayed on the console, a dialog-box
+	# or written in a log file.
+	#
+	# Message should be explicative, autonomous and do not depend on contextual information.
+	#
+	# Eg. instead of "Fatal error: cannot open file",
+	# something like "File error, cannot open /some/path/document.ext, file not found." is preferred,
+	# where the message is informative as it, and the severity of the error is not assumed:
+	# while fatal for the library, it could be something benign for the program.
+	var message: String
+
+	# An original error that caused the creation of this error, if any.
+	#
+	# This is used to chain errors and track the implication of various sub-systems for a given error.
+	#
+	# When displaying an error the end user, causes can be recursively displayed.
+	var cause: nullable Error = null is writable
+
+	redef fun to_s do return message
+end
+
+# Helper class used as a return value of methods that may give errors instead of values.
+#
+# Functions that return useful values or errors could use it to simulate an easy-to use multiple-return.
+#
+# ~~~
+# fun division(a,b: Int): MaybeError[Int, Error]
+# do
+#   if b == 0 then return new MaybeError[Int, Error](null, new Error("Arithmetic Error: try to divide {a} by 0"))
+#   return new MaybeError[Int, Error](a / b, null)
+# end
+#
+# assert division(10, 2).is_error  == false
+# assert division(10, 0).is_error  == true
+# ~~~
+#
+# Clients has to handle the error:
+#
+# ~~~
+# var res = division(10, 2)
+# if res.is_error then
+#   print res.error
+#   exit 1
+# end
+# print res.value
+# assert res.value == 5
+# ~~~
+class MaybeError[V, E: Error]
+	# The value, if any
+	var maybe_value: nullable V
+
+	# The error, if any
+	var maybe_error: nullable E
+
+	# It there an error?
+	fun is_error: Bool do return maybe_error != null
+
+	# The value
+	# REQUIRE: `not is_error`
+	fun value: V do return maybe_value.as(V)
+
+	# The require
+	# REQUIRE: `is_error`
+	fun error: E do return maybe_error.as(E)
+
+	redef fun to_s do
+		var e = maybe_error
+		if e != null then return e.to_s
+		return value.to_s
+	end
+end