How can you handle errors and exceptions when programming for control engineering?

2 Error handling

Error handling is the process of detecting, reporting, and recovering from errors and exceptions in a program. Depending on the programming language, software architecture, and application domain, error handling can be implemented in different ways. For example, built-in error handling mechanisms such as try-except-finally blocks or assert statements can be used to catch and handle specific types of errors and exceptions, while logging and debugging tools like print statements or breakpoints can help identify and locate the source of errors. Additionally, testing and verification tools like unit tests or integration tests can be used to check the correctness and reliability of a program. Finally, fault tolerance and resilience techniques like redundancy or replication can increase robustness and availability, allowing programs to cope with unavoidable errors.

3 Functional vs imperative programming

One of the factors that can influence the occurrence and handling of errors and exceptions in control engineering software is the programming paradigm. Programming paradigms are different ways of organizing and expressing the logic and computation of a program. Two of the most common programming paradigms are functional and imperative programming. Functional programming is based on the idea of defining and applying pure functions, which are mathematical abstractions that take inputs and produce outputs, without modifying any state or causing any side effects. Imperative programming is based on the idea of defining and executing sequences of commands, which are instructions that manipulate the state and cause side effects. Functional and imperative programming have different advantages and disadvantages for control engineering software, especially in terms of error and exception handling.

4 Advantages of functional programming

Functional programming can offer some benefits for error and exception handling in control engineering software. It tends to produce concise and readable code, which simplifies debugging and testing. Additionally, it allows you to break down the problem into small and independent functions that can be combined and reused in different ways, without affecting each other. This improves the modularity and maintainability of the code, as well as enabling easier error isolation and handling. Furthermore, functional programming ensures that the same input always produces the same output, and that the functions do not modify any state or cause any side effects, eliminating the possibility of runtime errors caused by inconsistent or unpredictable state changes. All of this makes it simpler to reason about and verify the code.

5 Disadvantages of functional programming

Functional programming can present some difficulties for error and exception handling in control engineering software. Performance and efficiency may be impacted due to overhead and inefficiency, such as the creation and disposal of many intermediate values, or the lack of direct memory access. Additionally, it can be difficult to interact and integrate with external systems or resources, which often require stateful and side-effecting operations. Lastly, functional programming limits the options for representing and propagating errors and exceptions, as it does not allow the use of exceptions or error codes. Instead, special values, monads, or continuations must be used instead, which may be less intuitive or convenient.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?