RE: Unwanted (?) exceptions in DDR Simple API spec

I would not characterize the absence of a specific binding to a Java exception class as a "hole in the spec". Java was chosen as the language of specification because it was widely understood and sufficiently expressive. The rest of the Java ecosystem (including the libraries, JEE etc) were not a factor. Indeed, translation to alternative languages was also high on the list of requirements, so dependencies on features beyond the raw Java language would be ill-advised.

The specification explicitly defines an exception class, and it is up to the implementer to ensure that this exception class is used in a reasonable fashion within the specific environment of the implementation. In the case of Java, there are several options to consider, including whether/how to inherit from existing exception classes (which are not mentioned in the specification).

The *safest* course of action is to inherit from Exception as per the example Java code that accompanies the specification. The motivation for this course is along the lines suggested by José.

But: there are other ways to provide safety, such as provable preconditions. If your code is designed so that by the time you reach the place where you retrieve a named property, that name is *guaranteed* to be valid, then it is justified to relax the exception class. If subsequently you still end up with an exception being thrown that percolates up the call chain because it was not explicitly trapped at the point of invocation, then this can only be because the precondition you had supposedly proven was not actually attained, at which point you don't have a "simple error", you have a major design flaw.

So I stand over my earlier response, and would add a caveat motivated by José, which advises anyone taking this route to be very careful about ensuring that the relaxation of the exception type is compensated by appropriate verifiable preconditions.

Similar concerns should be noted when dealing with implementations in other languages.

---Rotan

-----Original Message-----
From: public-ddwg-request@w3.org [mailto:public-ddwg-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of JOSE MANUEL CANTERA FONSECA
Sent: 26 November 2009 8:13
To: Jo Rabin; public-ddwg@w3.org
Subject: RE: Unwanted (?) exceptions in DDR Simple API spec

Hi Jo,

although it can be possible I would not recommend it for the sake of robustness of the code, imagine for instance  a situation in which the names of the properties are obtained dynamically (for example from a file) and you end up having the name of a property which does not exist. If you don't capture exceptions explicitly your program will end unexpectedly and won't be able to recover from a simple error 

So I would not take advantage of holes in the spec to satisfy certain use cases and leave the door open to break other situations Actually the majority of exceptions in Java APIs are regular exceptions that have to be captured explicitly

Best Regards


-----Mensaje original-----
De: public-ddwg-request@w3.org [mailto:public-ddwg-request@w3.org] En nombre de Jo Rabin
Enviado el: miércoles, 25 de noviembre de 2009 16:06
Para: public-ddwg@w3.org
Asunto: Unwanted (?) exceptions in DDR Simple API spec

Dear Survivor of the DDWG (as Francois put it :-) )

A question I've been meaning to put to colleagues is ref the 
specification of Exceptions in the API. I've been working with a Java 
implementation for some time now and frequently end up with something 
like this:

try {
    pvv = service.getPropertyValues(evidence);
} catch (NameException e1) {
    // can't get here
    e1.printStackTrace();
}

for (PropertyValue pv: pvv.getAll()) {
    try {
       System.out.println(pv.getString());
    } catch (ValueException e) {
       // can't get here
       e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

It seems to me that there is a strong case for changing the exception 
types to avoid this unnecessary round the houses. Interestingly enough, 
though DDRException subclasses Exception in the supplied Java, it is not 
stated explicitly in the API documentation that this is the case. Would 
it be acceptable for a conforming implementation to have DDRException 
subclass SystemException, I wonder?

thanks
Jo

Received on Friday, 4 December 2009 09:42:29 UTC