no more tagged returns

[Raimo Niskanen]

erlang:error/1,2 is new and useful for exactly what you described, 
but erlang:fault/1,2 has been around quite a while, and it is exactly 
the same. erlang:error/1,2 was introduced along with 
try..of..catch..after..end just to get a name on erlang:fault/1,2 
that harmonized with the class of the exception it raises.

This will match for any term (in R10B):

Term = try erlang:Class(Term)
       catch Class:Term -> Term
       end,

for Class = error | throw | exit



vances@REDACTED (Vance Shipley) writes:

> Today I discovered erlang:error/2 (apparently added in R10) which
> completes what is needed to write code which behaves in the way it
> really should when called with the wrong arguments.  Nice.
> 
> I like to write all API functions with as many clause guards as 
> possible(*) to make most effect use of the error reports.  Now I 
> can write the clause guards in the server where the procedures are 
> implemented.
> 
> 	-Vance
> 
> (*) The "fail fast" principle.
> 
> 
> -module(new_api).
> -behaviour(gen_server).
> -export([init/1, handle_call/3, handle_cast/2, handle_info/2,
>          terminate/2, code_change/3]).
> -export([foo_to_list/2]).
> 
> 
> foo_to_list(S, Arg) ->
> 	case gen_server:call(S, Arg) of
> 		{error, Reason} ->
> 			erlang:error(Reason, [S, Arg]);
> 		Result ->
> 			Result
> 	end.
> 
> init(_) ->
>    {ok, []}.
> 
> handle_cast(_Event, State) ->
>    {noreply, State}.
> 
> handle_call(foo, _From, State) ->
> 	{reply, atom_to_list(foo), State};
> handle_call(Atom, _From, State) when is_atom(Atom) ->
> 	{reply, {error, function_clause}, State};
> handle_call(_Event, _From, State) ->
> 	{reply, {error, bardarg}, State}.
> 
> handle_info(_Info, State) ->
>    {noreply, State}.
> 
> terminate(_Reason, _State) ->
> 	ok.
> 
> code_change(_OldVsn, State, _Extra) ->
> 	{ok, State}.
> 

-- 

/ Raimo Niskanen, Erlang/OTP, Ericsson AB