[OT] - C++ exceptions are becoming more and more problematic

[IGotD-]

On Thursday, 24 February 2022 at 19:14:39 UTC, Walter Bright 
wrote:
>
> I agree, which makes this a challenge.
>
> One solution is to design the return value so that failure is a 
> valid part of the type. For example, searching for X can return 
> an empty result, rather than a special "not found" error.
>
> Another solution is to redesign the problem. For example, 
> currently Phobos throws on an invalid Unicode character. A 
> better way is to treat such as a "replacement character".

Since you want to go that route and it might be applicable and 
convenient for some interfaces, you should consider adding a 
nullable type i D, and a language native nullable not only a 
library template type. You cannot find a "magic value" for all 
interfaces and a nullable type would solve that.

I would like that D outright copies the C# syntax for the 
nullable type (because I like it). The '?' makes it easy to 
implement and encourage people to use it.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/builtin-types/nullable-value-types

D has so many similarities with C# by now, adding a C# nullable 
syntax wouldn't hurt. D could even win over some C# people when 
they need compiled code or for whatever reason. When they see 
that D looks almost like C#, they rather stick with D than 
"modern C++".