This should never happen

My favorite part is the Java project that has an exception class called ThisShouldNeverHappenException [1]. Only in Java would someone create an exception class for a condition that should never happen :)

[1] https://github.com/TheProjecter/propidle/blob/f0d5320e2a3d46...

Re: This should never happen

#6

Post by BinaryIdiot » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 11:18 AM UTC

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #2

Apparently things-that-shouldn't-happen happen 10x more in C code than the next nearest language.

I didn't even notice that. Good observation. I wonder if that's simply because C is a lot older and may just have a lot more dead code or this type of code or something else entirely.

Re: This should never happen

#7

Post by bryanrasmussen » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 11:19 AM UTC

https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Why+does+this+hap...

Re: This should never happen

#8

Post by userbinator » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 11:19 AM UTC

In my experience, "this should never happen" cases often are a sign of very brittle design that branches into many separate but nearly-identical paths, and could be simplified to remove them. The other thing it points to is bad error handling paths (assuming that an error could "never happen".)

Also funny to see Java being the most verbose as usual, with its ThisShouldNeverHappenException.java

Re: This should never happen

#9

Post by INTPenis » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 11:21 AM UTC

I remember using the comment "Craw! Polly shouldn't be!" instead, as a homage to a specific Simpsons episode. :)

Re: This should never happen

#10

Post by merb » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 11:21 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #8

In my experience, "this should never happen" cases often are a sign of very brittle design that branches into many separate but nearly-identical paths, and could be simplified to remove them. The other thing it points to is bad error handling paths (assuming that an error could "never happen".) Also funny to see Java being the most verbose as usual, with its ThisShouldNeverHappenException.java

Mostly there is no need for "ThisShouldNeverHappenException" since java has a IllegalStateException