Fatality of uncaught exceptions in NodeJS

[rkatic]

The paragraph about uncaught exceptions in the README.md says:

If a task throws an exception, it will not interrupt the flushing of high-priority tasks. The exception will be postponed to a later, low-priority event to avoid slow-downs, when the underlying JavaScript engine will treat it as it does any unhandled exception.

It explains correctly the behavior in browsers, but it is not true in NodeJS. In NodeJS, uncaught exceptions are fatal (exits the process immediately), unless domains (or the "uncaoughtException" event) are used. ASAP, currently follows such "error policy".

Now, we have two options: (1) to fix the paragraph in the README.md, or (2) to make ASAP behave in NodeJS exactly as in browsers, "braking" the "error policy" of NodeJS.

[domenic]

I might be misunderstanding, but the readme seems perfectly accurate to me. In particular,

when the underlying JavaScript engine will treat it as it does any unhandled exception

seems to exactly match what asap does.

[kriskowal]

I do not think that the README is inaccurate, but I do agree that we should clarify what “as it does any unhandled exception” means for NodeJS, specifically with regard to our respect for domains.

[rkatic]

@domenic that part is fine, it's the rest that is untrue:

If a task throws an exception, it will not interrupt the flushing of high-priority tasks. The exception will be postponed to a later, low-priority event to avoid slow-downs, when...

[domenic]

Oh hmm, looking at the code, you're right:

https://github.com/kriskowal/asap/blob/master/asap.js#L30-L47

Weird.

[domenic]

I don't have a strong opinion on which behavior is better, as I'm still holding out hope for removing all exception handling from asap.

[kriskowal]

Oh, I see. Yeah, that’s different.

[rkatic]

ASAP is already at version 1.0.0, and I think documentation should correctly reflect the current state of the code. Apparently there will not be a consensus very soon, so I think we should fix the paragraph as soon as possible, and to revert it in future if needed. I am going to create a new branch for that.

[rkatic]

It seems I forgot to close this one.