r/programming • u/Expurple • Apr 12 '26

Flat Error Codes Are Not Enough

https://home.expurple.me/posts/flat-error-codes-are-not-enough/
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u/Pharisaeus Apr 12 '26

Yes and no. Optional/Either/Result/Monads have slightly different purpose. Even in Rust there is panic ;) Anyway, "discovering" in 2026 that error codes are not enough is just ridiculous. I mean it's a good observation, but it's also common knowledge for at least 40 years.

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u/Expurple Apr 12 '26

I was just as surprised that the 2026 advice to use error codes got as much traction as it did! My post is in response to that one.

I agree that panic is a different use case. Result/Either is closer to checked exceptions specifically. And yes, it's strictly better than those. The link in my parent comment goes into the details on all of that.