Returning nil vs throwing an exception

Hi!

What's the recommended practice if a factory cannot return a proper object
reference?
Throwing an exception or return a null pointer/reference? Or it this a
matter of taste simply?

--
Best regards, Pi (Ralf Pichocki).

Hi Ralf,

> What's the recommended practice if a factory cannot return a proper object
> reference?
> Throwing an exception or return a null pointer/reference? Or it this a
> matter of taste simply?

It's a matter of taste, but I recommend throwing an exception since
it's cleaner, particularly if you're using an OO language.

Thanks,

Doug
--
Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt Professor and Associate Chair
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science TEL: (615) 343-8197
Vanderbilt University WEB: www.dre.vanderbilt.edu/~schmidt
Nashville, TN 37203 NET: d.schmidt@vanderbilt.edu

Douglas C. Schmidt wrote:
> Hi Ralf,
>
>> What's the recommended practice if a factory cannot return a proper object
>> reference?
>> Throwing an exception or return a null pointer/reference? Or it this a
>> matter of taste simply?
>
> It's a matter of taste, but I recommend throwing an exception since
> it's cleaner, particularly if you're using an OO language.

It also can return more information to the client, like a reason string.

--
Jon Biggar
Floorboard Software
jon@floorboard.com
jon@biggar.org

Hi, Doug, hi, Jonathan!

Thanks for the both of you - that's what I expected. Wilco.

Best regards, Pi (Ralf Pichocki).