[IO] Input parameter checking

[Benedikt Ritter <br...@apache.org>]

Hi,

I've noticed that there are some classes that do not validate input
parameters. For example the constructor

o.a.c.io.output.XmlStreamWriter(final OutputStream out, final String
defaultEncoding)

does not check whether out is null, which will lead to late failure
in detectEncoding(final char[] cbuf, final int off, final int len).
Shouldn't we check for illegal null inputs in such situations?

Benedikt

-- 
http://people.apache.org/~britter/
http://www.systemoutprintln.de/
http://twitter.com/BenediktRitter
http://github.com/britter

Re: [IO] Input parameter checking

[sebb <se...@gmail.com>]

On 22 May 2015 at 08:14, Gary Gregory <ga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My first inclination is to leave it all as is in this dept. Otherwise, all
> public APIs would be candidate for parameter validation. That would be a
> lot of extra code. The difference being when and what exception is thrown.
>
> It's not clear to me that there is a lot of value there since [io] is a
> pretty low level API.

When the late failure occurs, is it obvious what the original cause was?
Or at least not too difficult to work out?

If failure to check the parameter means that it becomes very difficult
to debug user code, then it might be worth adding a check.
Otherwise I tend to agree with Gary.

> 2c,
> Gary
>
> On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 11:52 PM, Benedikt Ritter <br...@apache.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've noticed that there are some classes that do not validate input
>> parameters. For example the constructor
>>
>> o.a.c.io.output.XmlStreamWriter(final OutputStream out, final String
>> defaultEncoding)
>>
>> does not check whether out is null, which will lead to late failure
>> in detectEncoding(final char[] cbuf, final int off, final int len).
>> Shouldn't we check for illegal null inputs in such situations?
>>
>> Benedikt
>>
>> --
>> http://people.apache.org/~britter/
>> http://www.systemoutprintln.de/
>> http://twitter.com/BenediktRitter
>> http://github.com/britter
>>
>
>
>
> --
> E-Mail: garydgregory@gmail.com | ggregory@apache.org
> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition
> <http://www.manning.com/bauer3/>
> JUnit in Action, Second Edition <http://www.manning.com/tahchiev/>
> Spring Batch in Action <http://www.manning.com/templier/>
> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com
> Home: http://garygregory.com/
> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@commons.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@commons.apache.org

Re: [IO] Input parameter checking

[Gary Gregory <ga...@gmail.com>]

My first inclination is to leave it all as is in this dept. Otherwise, all
public APIs would be candidate for parameter validation. That would be a
lot of extra code. The difference being when and what exception is thrown.
It's not clear to me that there is a lot of value there since [io] is a
pretty low level API.

2c,
Gary

On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 11:52 PM, Benedikt Ritter <br...@apache.org>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've noticed that there are some classes that do not validate input
> parameters. For example the constructor
>
> o.a.c.io.output.XmlStreamWriter(final OutputStream out, final String
> defaultEncoding)
>
> does not check whether out is null, which will lead to late failure
> in detectEncoding(final char[] cbuf, final int off, final int len).
> Shouldn't we check for illegal null inputs in such situations?
>
> Benedikt
>
> --
> http://people.apache.org/~britter/
> http://www.systemoutprintln.de/
> http://twitter.com/BenediktRitter
> http://github.com/britter
>



-- 
E-Mail: garydgregory@gmail.com | ggregory@apache.org
Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition
<http://www.manning.com/bauer3/>
JUnit in Action, Second Edition <http://www.manning.com/tahchiev/>
Spring Batch in Action <http://www.manning.com/templier/>
Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com
Home: http://garygregory.com/
Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory