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The previous example is a simple way to handle errors.
- we'll learn a better way when we cover exceptions later in the course
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Some general rules about error handling:
- If your code is making assumptions about its inputs, check them!
- for example, if your code assumes a parameter is positive, check and alert the user if this is not the case (and exit if appropriate)
- this will save you time later on!
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- If you can reasonably handle the error, do so, but warn the user about it
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- Most of the time, the error will be fatal (not recoverable), in which case your program should not proceed
- issue an informative message about the problem, and exit with a non-zero exit code
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- try to detect errors as early as possible
- for example: don't start a long batch of processing without first checking that you can create the output file