[openbeos] Re: Asserts?
- From: "shatty" <shatty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 06 Oct 2002 02:30:07 -0700
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Mansfield <thephantom@xxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 22:49:40 -0700
[snip]
Now, suppose I blithely ignore InitCheck() and use one if this suspect
class' accessors? I might get back good data, I might not. It's a
crap shoot.
[snip]
What I am asking is if it would be, within the OBOS realm, proper and
prudent to assert() from an accessor if the class is not properly
initialized (i.e.: InitCheck() would return B_ERROR)?
[snip]
IHMO, If your accessor returns a status_t you should usually return
B_NO_INIT. The Be API is inconsistent on this matter but generally
you should also return B_NO_INIT from InitCheck() if the initialization
failed or is
incomplete. This is especially the case if the situation is recoverable.
For example, there are a number of classes where you can create an
empty instance with a default null constructor and then later call a
SetTo method to complete the initialization.
Taking an example from the media kit: BMediaFile::GetFileFormatInfo
It's not completely unreasonable for a programmer to write the following:
BMediaFile file(someEntryRef);
if (file.GetFileFormatInfo(formatInfo) != B_OK) {
.. some other stuff..
}
Using the Be Book as a standard, said programmer would have considerable
support for being upset if GetFileFormatInfo simply asserted that the file
pointer was valid.
Andrew
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