Thread:User talk:CodeCat/Module:parameters and unrecognized parameters/reply (3)

I'm with Chuck on this one. I've seen a few cases where the shift from the older template architecture to the new Lua-based modules has resulted in changes in parameter number and name. Adding or changing module code to now render page content inaccessible by throwing up a user-visible bright-red error string, instead of showing the user the content that was clearly visible before the change, is poor usability.

I my own learning about coding best-practices, numerous authors have exhorted their readers to anticipate errors, and to find ways of handling them effectively. Depending on the coding environment and the kind of error, "effective handling" might mean crashing hard and fast -- which is essentially the case with the Nynorsk template mess referenced above. However, here on Wiktionary, when the error only affects stray unknown params that have no bearing on the actual user-visible content, crashing like this is instead not ideal.

And, CodeCat, I must call you out on this bit: "[this situation with Lua error reporting] require[s] that coders should "expect" the error, which they are of course going to forget about." You're the one doing the coding here, so the "they" in this context can only mean you. I understand that we're all human, and things get forgotten and fall through the cracks. That's fine. But when the forgotten thing is brought up again, we need to deal with it. In this case, the Nynorsk template(s) in question need reworking to use cleanup templates if unrecognized parameters are used, instead of failing hard.