Result Library

A Java library to handle success and failure without exceptions

Wave goodbye to slow exceptions and embrace clean, efficient error handling by encapsulating operations that may succeed or fail in a type-safe way.

• Boost Performance: Avoid exception overhead and benefit from faster operations.
• Simple API: Leverage a familiar interface for a smooth learning curve.
• Streamlined Error Handling: Handle failure explicitly to simplify error propagation.
• Safe Execution: Ensure safer and more predictable operation outcomes.
• Enhanced Readability: Reduce complexity to make your code easier to understand.
• Functional Style: Embrace elegant, functional programming paradigms.
• Lightweight: Keep your project slim with no extra dependencies.
• Open Source: Enjoy transparent, permissive Apache 2 licensing.
• Pure Java: Seamless compatibility from JDK8 to the latest versions.

Result objects represent the outcome of an operation, removing the need to check for null. Operations that succeed produce results encapsulating a success value; operations that fail produce results with a failure value. Success and failure can be represented by whatever types make the most sense for each operation.

Results in a Nutshell

In Java, methods that can fail typically do so by throwing exceptions. Then, exception-throwing methods are called from inside a try block to handle errors in a separate catch block.

This approach is lengthy, and that’s not the only problem – it’s also very slow.

Conventional wisdom says exceptional logic shouldn’t be used for normal program flow. Results make us deal with expected error situations explicitly to enforce good practices and make our programs run faster.

Let’s now look at how the above code could be refactored if connect() returned a Result object instead of throwing an exception.

In the example above, we used only 4 lines of code to replace the 10 that worked for the first one. But we can effortlessly make it shorter by chaining methods. In fact, since we were returning -1 just to signal that the underlying operation failed, we are better off returning a Result object upstream. This will allow us to compose operations on top of getServerUptime() just like we did with connect().

Result objects are immutable, providing thread safety without the need for synchronization. This makes them ideal for multi-threaded applications, ensuring predictability and eliminating side effects.

Ready to Tap into the Power of Results?

Read the guide and transform your error handling today.

• 🌱 Getting Started
• 🪴 Basic Usage
• 🚀 Advanced Usage

Also available as an ebook in multiple formats. Download your free copy now!

Additional Info

Releases

This library adheres to Pragmatic Versioning.

Artifacts are available in Maven Central.

Javadoc

Here you can find the full Javadoc documentation.

Benchmarks

You may want to visualize the latest benchmark report.

Looking for Support?

We’d love to help. Check out the support guidelines.

Contributions Welcome

If you’d like to contribute to this project, please start here.

Code of Conduct

This project is governed by the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code.

Author

Copyright 2024 Guillermo Calvo.

License

This library is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use it except in compliance with the License.

You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Permitted:

• Commercial Use: You may use this library and derivatives for commercial purposes.
• Modification: You may modify this library.
• Distribution: You may distribute this library.
• Patent Use: This license provides an express grant of patent rights from contributors.
• Private Use: You may use and modify this library without distributing it.

Required:

• License and Copyright Notice: If you distribute this library you must include a copy of the license and copyright notice.
• State Changes: If you modify and distribute this library you must document changes made to this library.

Forbidden:

• Trademark use: This license does not grant any trademark rights.
• Liability: The library author cannot be held liable for damages.
• Warranty: This library is provided without any warranty.