ZacharyZhang-NY
e74dafcd36
Three independently ugly bugs that all fed the same log flood:
* Electron's `WebFrameMain.send` writes every "Render frame was disposed"
to stderr via `console.error`. When the worker fans a second
agent-event past a reloading renderer, we produced thousands of
identical lines and stalled the main loop on stderr I/O. Added a
`mainFrame.detached` guard so the send is short-circuited before
Electron's own catch block fires, and installed a targeted filter in
`suppress-warnings.ts` (now actually imported from the entry point)
so the specific `console.error("Error sending from webFrameMain:"…)`
noise never reaches the terminal. Any other payload still surfaces.
* `dispatchAgentMessage` accepted the human-reader sentinel as a wake
target when an agent replied to `__board__` — `wakeAgentIfPossible`
then called `db.getAgent("__board__")`, threw, and the dispatcher
kept repeating on every send. Strip `HUMAN_SENDER_ID` at
`resolveMessageWakeTargets`, and keep a defense-in-depth guard in the
heartbeat so a stray caller (future automation fan-out) cannot
reintroduce the crash.
* Pi's skills loader rejects any SKILL.md whose frontmatter `name`
diverges from its parent directory. The four bundled `my-writing-style`
copies declared `name: writing-style-skill`, so every install emitted
a warning and dropped the skill. They also lived as orphan gitlinks
(mode 160000 without .gitmodules), and the global `*.md` gitignore
hid every other SKILL.md from version control. Fixed the frontmatter
to match the dir, converted the dangling submodules to plain trees,
and allowlisted `builtin-skills/**/*.md` so a fresh clone carries the
catalogue instead of silently losing it.
89 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Separate Error Handling from Happy Path
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impact: HIGH
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impactDescription: reduces nested conditionals by 50-80% in exception-based languages
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tags: err, exceptions, error-handling, separation, result-types
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---
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## Separate Error Handling from Happy Path
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Error handling is important, but when it obscures logic, it's wrong. The core insight is separation: keep the happy path visible and error handling consolidated, regardless of which mechanism your language uses.
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**Incorrect (error handling obscures business logic):**
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```java
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if (deletePage(page) == E_OK) {
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if (registry.deleteReference(page.name) == E_OK) {
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if (configKeys.deleteKey(page.name.makeKey()) == E_OK) {
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logger.log("page deleted");
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} else {
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logger.log("configKey not deleted");
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}
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} else {
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logger.log("deleteReference from registry failed");
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}
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} else {
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logger.log("delete failed");
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return E_ERROR;
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}
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```
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**Correct (Java/C#/Python — exceptions separate concerns):**
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```java
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public void delete(Page page) {
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try {
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deletePageAndAllReferences(page);
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} catch (PageDeletionException e) {
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logger.log(e.getMessage());
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}
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}
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private void deletePageAndAllReferences(Page page) throws PageDeletionException {
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deletePage(page);
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registry.deleteReference(page.name);
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configKeys.deleteKey(page.name.makeKey());
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}
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```
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**Correct (Go — explicit error returns with early return):**
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```go
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func (s *Service) Delete(page Page) error {
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if err := s.deletePage(page); err != nil {
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return fmt.Errorf("deleting page: %w", err)
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}
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if err := s.registry.DeleteReference(page.Name); err != nil {
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return fmt.Errorf("deleting reference: %w", err)
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}
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if err := s.configKeys.DeleteKey(page.Name); err != nil {
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return fmt.Errorf("deleting config key: %w", err)
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}
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return nil
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}
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```
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**Correct (Rust — Result type with ? operator):**
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```rust
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fn delete(&self, page: &Page) -> Result<(), DeletionError> {
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self.delete_page(page)?;
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self.registry.delete_reference(&page.name)?;
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self.config_keys.delete_key(&page.name)?;
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Ok(())
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}
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```
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**The principle is language-agnostic:** separate error-handling logic from business logic. The mechanism differs:
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- **Java/C#/Python:** try-catch with specific exception types
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- **Go:** explicit error returns with early return pattern
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- **Rust:** `Result<T, E>` with `?` operator
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- **TypeScript/Kotlin:** `Result` types or exceptions depending on the domain
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**When NOT to use exceptions:**
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- In Go, Rust, or other languages designed around explicit error values — use their idiomatic patterns instead
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- For expected business outcomes (e.g., "user not found") — consider returning `Optional` or a domain-specific result type rather than throwing
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- In performance-critical hot paths where exception overhead matters
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Reference: [Clean Code, Chapter 3: Functions](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/clean-code-a/9780136083238/) and [Chapter 7: Error Handling](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/clean-code-a/9780136083238/)
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