Console.error or throw new Error?

Recently, I was involved in a discussion about error handling. We couldn't agree on proper usage of console.error and when to use throw. So I've decided to write a short post on how I see it.

When to use console.error

Almost never. console.error is nothing else but console.log that outputs red in your developer tools. It can’t be really considered as an error handling tool.

Use console.error (or console.assert) to make assertions to prevent impossible. Anytime you think "this could never happen", add assertion on that.

Keep those assertions also in production code unless it is a performance issue. You will experience way more "impossible" scenarios in production and having assertions in your code will help you to discover them earlier.

When to use throw new Error

Anytime you have corrupted data or an impossible state - throw!

Dead program can do less harm than a program with corrupted data.

Consider following scenario

try {
  let today = new Date(‘orange’)
} catch (e) {
  // handle error
}

Since it’s impossible to create a date from orange, it’s better to throw an error.

What’s the alternative (future)?

Exceptions (throwing errors) are mostly used in OOP languages. Functional languages treat errors as a type rather than something special.

It's becoming more common to see this pattern also in non-OOP languages. But I would be careful to use it until it becomes standard.

let f = File::open("hello.txt");

let f = match f {
    Ok(file) => // do something with file
    Err(error) => // do something with error
};

The example above is from Rust. The method open() returns either File type or Error type. In either case, it’s just a type, no exceptions.

I find this error handling most straightforward. It makes it obvious what functions may return Errors, plus it forces you to handle them properly.

Conclusion

Don't use console.error for real error handling. Use throw new Error() when you can't satisfy your business needs. And treat all errors equally, no matter where they come from. It will make your life easier.

PS: Warning is just a future error.