Testing fatalError and friends

[tera]

@AlexanderM

I don't, because of how limited the contexts are in which you're actually allowed to throw. Non-throwing method requirements on protocols is the perfect example, where you're literally forced to not throw, and there's nothing you can do about it.

I wonder if setjmp / longjmp could work here (e.g. Swift calling into C that calls those). Not the nicest API by any stretch of imagination but could do the trick.

@AlexanderM

For example, the bounds-check on Array's subscript is an assertion. To use throws would be inappropriate, because there wouldn't be much the caller could reasonably do to recover. It would make it easier to catch the error and detect it in a test fixture, but it would just muddy the real caller code. Imagine just how many try! a[i] you'd see all over.

@AlexanderM

I think even if throw could be used everywhere, it would still be a sub-optimal solution, because it blurs the lines between these two distinct kinds of error conditions. Consider how many try! statements you'd have in your code, and how hard it would be to discern

Indeed.

BTW, we have throwing getters but not setters, why is so? Is this something just not currently implemented and planned for the future or are there inherent reasons against throwing setters?