philg hates software: Ugly Code

• From: Phil!Gregory
  Date: 19:02 on 07 Apr 2005
  Subject: Ugly Code
  
  I hate having to write ugly code.  (Yes, this is another Delphi hate.)
  
  I like the fact that Delphi supports exceptions; they make error handling
  easier:
  
  try
    // code
    // code
    // code
  except
    on EFooError do
    begin
      // handle error
    end;
  end;
  
  Exceptions also necessitate cleanup clauses.  In Delphi that's
  try...finally:
  
  try
    ...
  finally
    // cleanup
  end;
  
  Of, course, many times, you want to both handle errors and clean up
  allocated resources.  This is where Delphi gets ugly:
  
  try
    try
      ...
    except
      on EError1 do
      begin
        ...
      end;
      on EError2 do
      begin
        ...
      end;
    end;
  finally
    ...
  end;
  
  And don't forget that if you raise an exception in a finally clause it
  clobbers the preceeding exception:
  
  try
    try
      ...
    except
      on Exception do
      begin
        ...
      end;
    end;
  finally
    try
      ...
    except
      on Exception do
      begin
        ...
      end;
    end;
  end;
  
  Ugh.
  
  Not to start any language wars, but there are other syntaxes that I find
  much more attractive.  For example:
  
  (if (null (catch 'exception
              (unwind-protect
                (code)
                (cleanup))))
      (handle-error))
  
  (Granted, it's less structured than Delphi, so the programmer has to
  impose his own structure, but it *looks nicer*.)
  
  
  

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