Fail Fast

Overview

When something goes wrong, fail immediately and visibly.

Don't hide errors with try/catch that returns defaults. Don't let invalid state propagate. Fail at the point of failure, not three layers later with corrupted data.

When to Use

• Writing error handling code
• Tempted to catch and return default
• Adding "defensive" null checks everywhere
• Wrapping everything in try/catch
• Returning error objects instead of throwing

The Iron Rule