It’s not “you shouldn’t throw errors in JavaScript”, if something bad happens, always throw. You can of course use constructs like Either/Result from functional languages but they are not native to JS and don’t integrate well. What you shouldn’t do is rethrowing exceptions. Don’t use try/catch on everything that can throw since all you end up doing is making the stack trace harder to trace or even lose it completely. You use try/catch only when you can actually do something useful in case of an error (like re-trying a connection attempt) If you re-throw, make sure to use the second argument to the Error constructor and it’s “cause” property, it makes sure your stack trace stays intact. That’s what Java developers do. Sometimes it’s easier to wrap exceptions into a common exception type or provide additional information in an error case, that’s about the only case where re-throwing exceptions makes sense Answer from TorbenKoehn on reddit.com
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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Statements › throw
throw - JavaScript | MDN
The throw statement throws a user-defined exception. Execution of the current function will stop (the statements after throw won't be executed), and control will be passed to the first catch block in the call stack. If no catch block exists among caller functions, the program will terminate.
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › js › js_errors.asp
JavaScript Error Statements
JavaScript will actually create an Error object with two properties: name and message. The throw statement allows you to create a custom error. Technically you can throw an exception (throw an error).
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Mozilla
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Guide › Control_flow_and_error_handling
Control flow and error handling - JavaScript | MDN
You can throw exceptions using the throw statement and handle them using the try...catch statements. ... Just about any object can be thrown in JavaScript. Nevertheless, not all thrown objects are created equal.
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Rollbar
rollbar.com › home › how to throw exceptions in javascript
How to Throw Exceptions in JavaScript | Rollbar
June 11, 2021 - With this in mind, there are two ways to throw an exception: directly via an Error object, and through a custom object.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnjavascript › why do people say you shouldn’t throw errors in javascript?
r/learnjavascript on Reddit: Why do people say you shouldn’t throw errors in JavaScript?
October 11, 2024 -

I've heard a lot of advice saying you shouldn't throw errors in JavaScript, but I'm wondering why this is specifically a JS thing. In Java, throwing exceptions seems like a normal practice, and it's integrated into the language in a structured way (checked exceptions, try-catch, etc.). But in JavaScript, many people recommend against it.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/node › is throwing exceptions still bad in javascript?
r/node on Reddit: Is throwing exceptions still bad in javascript?
March 1, 2023 -

I learnt a lot of time ago that throwing errors in Node.js and V8 is bad [1][2][3], and modern languages seems to confirm this trend with Go having error checking as idiomatic, and Rust having the Maybe type.

It makes sense because throwing errors boils down to a reentrancy problem, which is notoriusly hard, leading to issues like harder debuggability, corrupted stacks and memory leaks especially in http services.. Legendary are some comments in the V8 reentrancy source code, where it said something like We don't know why this code works, but it does, please don't touch it

Is this knowledge still relevant? Can anyone provide a modern reputable source in favor or against this thesis?

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Programiz
programiz.com › javascript › throw
JavaScript throw Statement
In the previous tutorial, you learned to handle exceptions using JavaScript try..catch statement. The try and catch statements handle exceptions in a standard way which is provided by JavaScript. However, you can use the throw statement to pass user-defined exceptions.
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Codecademy
codecademy.com › learn › learn-intermediate-javascript › modules › errors-and-error-handling › cheatsheet
Learn Intermediate JavaScript: Errors and Error Handling Cheatsheet | Codecademy
An error created with this function will not stop a program from running unless the throw keyword is used to raise the error. console.log(Error('Your password is too weak.')); //Error: Your password is too weak.
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › jsref › jsref_throw.asp
JavaScript throw Statement
The throw statement throws an exception. The exception can be a JavaScript String, a Number, a Boolean or an Object:
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JavaScript Tutorial
javascripttutorial.net › home › javascript tutorial › javascript throw exception
JavaScript throw Exception
October 6, 2023 - Typically, you’ll use a new instance of the Error class or its subclasses. When encountering the throw statement, the JavaScript engine stops executing and passes the control to the first catch block in the call stack.
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LaunchCode
education.launchcode.org › js-independent-track › chapters › exceptions › throw.html
17.2. Throw — Introduction to Professional Web Development in JavaScript (Independent Track) documentation
In most programming languages, ... has gone wrong. Throwing an exception is also known as raising an exception. JavaScript gives us the ability to raise exceptions using the throw statement....
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Exploring JS
exploringjs.com › js › book › ch_exception-handling.html
Exception handling • Exploring JavaScript (ES2025 Edition)
Any value can be thrown in JavaScript. However, it’s best to use instances of Error or a subclass because they support additional features such as stack traces and error chaining (see “The superclass of all built-in exception classes: Error” (§26.4)).
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Streply
streply.com › blog › understanding-javascript-throw-error
Understanding JavaScript Throw Error - Streply
This allows developers to handle exceptional situations and provide custom error messages to users. To throw an error in JavaScript, you can use the following syntax: throw new Error("Error message");
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › javascript › javascript-errors-throw-and-try-to-catch
JavaScript Errors Throw and Try to Catch - GeeksforGeeks
//Driver Code Starts class ValidationError extends Error { constructor(message) { super(message); this.name = "ValidationError"; } } //Driver Code Ends function validateInput(input) { if (input < 0) { throw new ValidationError("Input must be a positive number"); } return "Valid input"; } //Driver Code Starts try { validateInput(-5); // Throws ValidationError } catch (error) { console.log(`${error.name}: ${error.message}`); } //Driver Code Ends
Published   August 1, 2025
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Cognex
support.cognex.com › docs › isvidi_161 › web › EN › Help_ISViDi › Content › Topics › AdvancedView › Scripting › javascript-overview-throwing-exceptions.htm
JavaScript Overview – Throwing Exceptions
if (area <= 0) { throw new Error("area must be positive"); --or-- throw 'Invalid argument'; --or-- throw radius * 3.14; // not normally used but legal } The try clause defines the block of code that contains the exception to be handled, and is followed by either a catch or finally clause. These two are optional, however, the try block must be followed by at least one of them. The following illustrates how to handle an exception or error in JavaScript:
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EDUCBA
educba.com › home › software development › software development tutorials › javascript tutorial › javascript throw exception
Javascript Throw Exception | Examples of Javascript Throw Exception
March 28, 2023 - It allows users to create and throw user-defined exceptions/ error messages. Also, the user can use throw statements along with try and catch statements. There is no line termination between the statement throw and the expression.
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