ok or true? (fwd)

[Joe Armstrong]

Things that return two possible atoms should *always* return true | false.

Why? - because there are loads of library routines which work on
predicates.

Suppose you have a function switch_status(...) what returns on | off.

I'd *immediately* rename this as

	is_swich_on(...) or switchP(...) that returns true | false

Then I can use this as an argument to other Hofs

	filter(fun is_swich_on/... ) 

By sticking to bools you increase the chances of being able to use
the library functions.

In general you should stick to regular return values like

	{ok, Val} | {error, Why}

	{value, V} | error

for the same reason

	/Joe



> This has got to be an age old question:
> 
> 	Return 'ok' or 'true' on success?
> 
> I'm building a gen_serial module.  Looking at the gen_tcp API, the
> functions return 'ok' when they succeed.  Looking at the port BIF API,
> the BIFs all return 'true' when they succeed.
> 
> So which is it?  :-)
> 
> I've finally got async serial port IO working on Windows XP.  I need
> to get error handling in, and properly terminate the external port
> servers when the port is closed down, write some edoc, and then I'll
> release it to the list.  Should be sometime later this week.
> 
> I'd like to get the current serial contrib merged in with this driver
> too, so both Windows and UNIX can use the same Erlang code.
> 

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