ok or true?

[Robert Virding]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vance Shipley" <vances@REDACTED>
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 8:02 PM
Subject: Re: ok or true?

> I would expect a function which returns true to have only
> one other possible return value; false.  It is my observation
> that most functions which always succeed return true.  I
> would find a function which returned true or {error, Reason}
> to be quite odd.

Correct. True and false are boolean values and should only be returned if
the return value is a boolean value. Otherwise use ok and error/{error,...}.
It was a bad design decision that many BIFs and library functions return
true or false to signify success and error. We weren't thinking straight
when we did that.

Robert