Hello,

Same here, specially to avoid the Not_found exception.
The optional return values gives the oportunity to have a clear view of 
what is being done if the result is not available.

- Florent

Jacques Le Normand a écrit :
> Jane Street's Core seems to prefer options to exceptions
>
> On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 5:10 PM, Hans Ole Rafaelsen 
> <hrafaelsen@gmail.com <mailto:hrafaelsen@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 7:30 PM, Dario Teixeira
>     <darioteixeira@yahoo.com <mailto:darioteixeira@yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>         Hi,
>
>         > What experience does people have to using alternatives to
>         exceptions,
>         > such as option types or exception monads? Does use of third part
>         > libraries that still throws exceptions make such approaches
>         hard to use?
>         > Performance wise it seems to be comparable to catching
>         exceptions or
>         > matching for options, so I guess the difference be might a
>         question of
>         > programming style?
>
>         Partly yes, though I would say that in Ocaml it is tempting to use
>         exceptions beyond what is reasonable, because they are so
>         cheap and
>         convenient.  As you noted, this can lead to trouble at
>         runtime, which
>         is why some libraries discourage the "exceptional style",
>         preferring
>         option types and forcing users to invoke functions suffixed by
>         "_exc"
>         if they really want to use the exception-based version.
>
>         Personally, I think the litmus test hinges on whether the
>         supposedly
>         exceptional situation is truly worthy of the name.  If it's a
>         common
>         occurrence, perhaps one should reconsider the use of an
>         "exception".
>         Without meaning to start an holy war, let me just add that even on
>         the Stdlib there are functions (such as Map.S.find) that raise an
>         exception but which should perhaps return an option type.
>
>         Btw, you didn't mention it explicitly in your message, but I
>         trust you
>         are familiar with "Catch me if you can"? [1]
>
>     I have just read about it, not tested it yet. Do you have any
>     experience using this library, especially together with other
>     libraries that also provides syntax extension?
>      
>
>
>         Best regards,
>         Dario Teixeira
>
>         [1]
>         http://dutherenverseauborddelatable.wordpress.com/downloads/exception-monads-for-ocaml/
>
>
>
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Hans Ole
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management:
>     http://yquem.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/caml-list
>     Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
>     Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners
>     Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management:
> http://yquem.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/caml-list
> Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
> Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners
> Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
>   


-- 
Florent Ouchet
PhD Student
CIS/VDS Team - TIMA Laboratory