RE: [Tcllib-devel] Tcllib Release 1.8 Status and Action Plan

[Andreas K. <and...@Ac...>]

> In general what should happen if a mathematical function is to be
> evaluated for a set of argument for which it is not defined?
>
> In this case, the bug is that there is a division by zero and
> this is reported as such, rather than as a clearer message
> that the coefficient of variation is not defined if the mean
> of the data is zero.
>
> My question:
> - Should the function return such a (clearer) message or
> - Should it return an empty string (not an error) thereby
>   leaving it to the caller to handle the _undefined_
>   situation
>
> I can argue either way, but we should probably try for a
> consistent practice.

My personal opinion is to return a clear error message, even if that entails
catching and rethrowing errors.


--
	Andreas Kupries <and...@Ac...>
	Developer @ http://www.ActiveState.com, a division of Sophos
	Tel: +1 604 484 6491