Go Error Handling Techniques [closed]

Question

I'm just getting started with Go. My code is starting to have a lot of this:

   if err != nil {       //handle err    } 

or this

  if err := rows.Scan(&some_column); err != nil {       //handle err   } 

Are there some good idioms/strategies/best-practices for checking and handling errors in Go?

EDIT to clarify: I'm not bellyaching or suggesting that the Go team come up with something better. I'm asking if I'm doing it right or have I missed some technique that the community came up with. Thanks all.

Answer 1

Your code is idiomatic and in my opinion it is the best practice available. Some would disagree for sure, but I would argue that this is the style seen all over the standard libraries in Golang. In other words, Go authors write error handling in this way.

Answer 2

Six months after this question was asked Rob Pike wrote a blog post titled Errors are Values.

In there he argues that you don't need to program in the way presented by the OP, and mentions several places in the standard library where they use a different pattern.

Of course a common statement involving an error value is to test whether it is nil, but there are countless other things one can do with an error value, and application of some of those other things can make your program better, eliminating much of the boilerplate that arises if every error is checked with a rote if statement.

...

Use the language to simplify your error handling.

But remember: Whatever you do, always check your errors!

It's a good read.