go-go-try

Tries to execute a sync/async function, returns a Golang style result.

Why

• Supports sync/async functions.
• Allows you to capture the thrown error.
• Written in TypeScript. The types are written in a way that reduce developer errors.
• Inspired by Golang error catching.
• Zero dependencies.

Why not just try/catch?

• In a lot of cases, try/catch is still the better option.
• Nested try/catch statements are hard to process mentally. They also indent the code and make it hard to read. A single try/catch does the same but to a lesser degree.
• If you prefer const, try/catch statements get in the way because you need to use let if you need the variable outside of the try/catch scope:

  let todos
  try {
      todos = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('todos'))
  } catch {}
  return todos.filter((todo) => todo.done)

• It takes more space. It's slower to type.

Install

npm install go-go-try

Usage

import { goTry, goTryRaw, goTrySync, goTryRawSync } from 'go-go-try'

// tries to parse todos, returns empty array if it fails
const [_, value = []] = goTrySync(() => JSON.parse(todos))

// fetch todos, on error, fallback to empty array
const [_, todos = []] = await goTry(fetchTodos())

// fetch todos, fallback to empty array, send error to your error tracking service
const [err, todos = []] = await goTry(fetchTodos()) // err is string | undefined
if (err) sendToErrorTrackingService(err)

// goTry extracts the error message from the error object, if you want the raw error object, use goTryRaw/goTryRawSync
const [err, value] = goTryRawSync<Error>(() => JSON.parse('{/}')) // err will be unknown, value will be always T and you can add a Error type as the first generic argument to avoid checking `instanceof Error`

// fetch todos, fallback to empty array, send error to your error tracking service
const [err, todos = []] = await goTryRaw<SomeErrorType>(fetchTodos()) // err is SomeErrorType | undefined
if (err) sendToErrorTrackingService(err)

API

First parameter accepts:

• asynchronous function / Promise

Returns a tuple with the possible error and result (Golang style)

Alternatively, you can use the goTrySync and goTryRawSync functions to get the result and error for sync functions.

If you use TypeScript, the types are well defined and won't let you make a mistake.

Inspiration

• This library started as a fork of good-try but diverged a lot so I decided to rename it