Add errors concept

concepts/errors/.meta/config.json

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "blurb": "Crystal has errors which can be raised and rescued. It is also possible to deffine your own exceptions.",
+  "authors": ["meatball133"],
+  "contributors": ["ryanplusplus"]
+}

concepts/errors/.meta/template.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{% $errors %}

concepts/errors/about.md

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+# Exception
+
+In the ideal world, everything works perfectly.
+But in the real world, things can go wrong, and how we handle these situations matters to ensure that our software is robust and reliable.
+Exceptions are a crucial concept in programming that allows us to handle errors and unexpected situations gracefully.
+
+Raising an error, if not handled, halts the program and throws an error message.
+In most cases, you don't want your program to halt when an error occurs, instead you want to handle the error and continue running the program.
+
+## Raising an exception
+
+In Crystal, exceptions are raised using the `raise` keyword and can either be given a `String` or an `Exception` object.
+If unhandled, the program will halt and print the error message.
+
+```crystal
+raise "This is an error"
+```
+
+There are several built-in exceptions in Crystal, like `ArgumentError`, `IndexError`, `KeyError`, `IOError`, `SystemCallError`, `TypeError`, `ZeroDivisionError` and many more.
+These require you to pass a message to the exception.
+
+```crystal
+raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+```
+
+## [Handling exceptions][[exception-handling]]
+
+We wouldn't want our program to crash when an exception is raised.
+Therefore, when we know a piece of code is error prone, we can wrap it in a `begin` block and rescue the exception with a `rescue` block.
+The `begin` block marks the beginning of the code that might raise an exception, and the `rescue` block handles the exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+end
+```
+
+The `rescue` block can also be specified with a variable to get the exception object.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue ex
+ puts "An error occurred: #{ex.message}"
+end
+```
+
+The `rescue` block can also be specified with a specific exception type only to catch that exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred!"
+end
+
+# or
+
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ex : ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred: #{ex.message}"
+end
+```
+
+Multiple `rescue` blocks can be used to handle different types of exceptions.
+In the example below, the first `rescue` block will catch an `ArgumentError`, and the second `rescue` block will catch any other exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred!"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+end
+```
+
+The `begin` block can also have an `else` block, which is executed if no exception is raised.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ puts "No error occurred"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+else
+ puts "No error occurred"
+end
+```
+
+Lastly, there is an `ensure` block that is always executed, regardless of whether an exception was raised.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+ensure
+ puts "This is always executed"
+end
+```
+
+## Method convention
+
+Some methods have two versions, one with `!` and the other without.
+This can mean two different things.
+One is that the method mutates the object, and the other is that the method can raise an exception.
+
+But there is also another convention around ending a method with `?` mentioned in the boolean concept.
+Some methods raise an exception by default but also have a version ending with `?` which returns `nil` instead of raising an exception.
+
+This is ideal when you want to avoid an error being raised. 
+This can benefit performance since it doesn't have to create a stack trace and, if set up correctly, could make the code safer.
+
+## Custom exceptions
+
+You can also create your own exceptions by inheriting from the [`Exception`][exception] class.
+In doing so, you can optionally override the `initialize` method to set the exception message.
+This can be done by assigning an instance variable named `@message` with the message.
+
+```crystal
+class MyException < Exception
+ def initialize
+   @message = "This is my exception"
+ end
+end
+
+raise MyException.new
+```
+
+[exception-handling]: https://crystal-lang.org/reference/syntax_and_semantics/exception_handling.html
+[exception]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/Exception.html

concepts/errors/introduction.md

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+# Exception
+
+In the ideal world, everything works perfectly.
+But in the real world, things can go wrong, and how we handle these situations matters to ensure that our software is robust and reliable.
+Exceptions are a crucial concept in programming that allows us to handle errors and unexpected situations gracefully.
+
+Raising an error, if not handled, halts the program and throws an error message.
+In most cases, you don't want your program to halt when an error occurs, instead you want to handle the error and continue running the program.
+
+## Raising an exception
+
+In Crystal, exceptions are raised using the `raise` keyword and can either be given a `String` or an `Exception` object.
+If unhandled, the program will halt and print the error message.
+
+```crystal
+raise "This is an error"
+```
+
+There are several built-in exceptions in Crystal, like `ArgumentError`, `IndexError`, `KeyError`, `IOError`, `SystemCallError`, `TypeError`, `ZeroDivisionError` and many more.
+These require you to pass a message to the exception.
+
+```crystal
+raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+```
+
+## [Handling exceptions][[exception-handling]]
+
+We wouldn't want our program to crash when an exception is raised.
+Therefore, when we know a piece of code is error prone, we can wrap it in a `begin` block and rescue the exception with a `rescue` block.
+The `begin` block marks the beginning of the code that might raise an exception, and the `rescue` block handles the exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+end
+```
+
+The `rescue` block can also be specified with a variable to get the exception object.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue ex
+ puts "An error occurred: #{ex.message}"
+end
+```
+
+The `rescue` block can also be specified with a specific exception type only to catch that exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred!"
+end
+
+# or
+
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ex : ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred: #{ex.message}"
+end
+```
+
+Multiple `rescue` blocks can be used to handle different types of exceptions.
+In the example below, the first `rescue` block will catch an `ArgumentError`, and the second `rescue` block will catch any other exception.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise ArgumentError.new("This is an argument error")
+rescue ArgumentError
+ puts "An argument error occurred!"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+end
+```
+
+The `begin` block can also have an `else` block, which is executed if no exception is raised.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ puts "No error occurred"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+else
+ puts "No error occurred"
+end
+```
+
+Lastly, there is an `ensure` block that is always executed, regardless of whether an exception was raised.
+
+```crystal
+begin
+ raise "This is an error"
+rescue
+ puts "An error occurred!"
+ensure
+ puts "This is always executed"
+end
+```
+
+## Method convention
+
+Some methods have two versions, one with `!` and the other without.
+This can mean two different things.
+One is that the method mutates the object, and the other is that the method can raise an exception.
+
+But there is also another convention around ending a method with `?` mentioned in the boolean concept.
+Some methods raise an exception by default but also have a version ending with `?` which returns `nil` instead of raising an exception.
+
+This is ideal when you want to avoid an error being raised. 
+This can benefit performance since it doesn't have to create a stack trace and, if set up correctly, could make the code safer.
+
+## Custom exceptions
+
+You can also create your own exceptions by inheriting from the [`Exception`][exception] class.
+In doing so, you can optionally override the `initialize` method to set the exception message.
+This can be done by assigning an instance variable named `@message` with the message.
+
+```crystal
+class MyException < Exception
+ def initialize
+   @message = "This is my exception"
+ end
+end
+
+raise MyException.new
+```
+
+[exception-handling]: https://crystal-lang.org/reference/syntax_and_semantics/exception_handling.html
+[exception]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/Exception.html

concepts/errors/links.json

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[
+  {
+    "url": "https://crystal-lang.org/reference/syntax_and_semantics/exception_handling.html",
+    "description": "Crystal docs: exception-handling"
+  },
+  {
+    "url": "https://crystal-lang.org/api/Exception.html",
+    "description": "Crystal API: exception"
+  }
+]

config.json

@@ -277,6 +277,13 @@
           "array-methods"
         ],
         "status": "beta"
+      },
+      {
+        "slug": "the-farm",
+        "name": "the-farm",
+        "uuid": "600b6035-ca9b-41df-843d-2dcd86cac2d1",
+        "concepts": [],
+        "prerequisites": []
       }
     ],
     "practice": [

exercises/concept/the-farm/.docs/hints.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Hints
+
+## 1. Divide the food evenly
+
+- Start by writing the function signature of `DivideFood`.
+  It should accept 2 parameters of type `FodderCalculator` and `int` and return two values of types `float64` and `error`.
+  Revisit the [functions concept][concept-functions] if you need more information on how to define functions.
+- In the function body, call the `FodderAmount` [method][concept-methods] on `FodderCalculator` to fetch the default total amount of fodder for the cows.
+  It will return the actual result and an error.
+  Handle the error via an if-statement as it was explained in the introduction.
+- After that, call the `FatteningFactor` method and handle the error return value as before.
+- Now that you have the fodder amount and the factor, you can calculate the final result.
+  You need to divide the fodder by the number of cows (revisit [numbers] for hints on type conversion) and multiply with the factor. Check the introduction for what to return as the error value in case of success.
+
+## 2. Check the number of cows
+
+- `ValidateInputAndDivideFood` has the same function signature as `DivideFood`.
+- Since you want to return early in case of an error in Go, you first check whether the number of cows is less or equal than 0 with an if-statement.
+- If it is, you return an error that you created with `errors.New`.
+  Make sure the message matches the instructions.
+- If the number of cows is valid, you can proceed to call the existing `DivideFood` function from task 1.
+
+## 3. Improve the error handling
+
+- Start by creating the `InvalidCowsError` [struct][concept-structs] with two unexported fields that hold the number of cows and the message.
+- Next, define the `Error` method on that struct (with a pointer receiver). Revisit the exercise introduction for help on how to do this.
+- Now you can work on the `ValidateNumberOfCows` function.
+  Depending on the number of cows ([if-statement][concept-conditionals]), it should create and return a new instance of the `InvalidCowsError` and set the correct message while doing so.
+  If the number of cows was valid, `nil` should be returned.
+
+[concept-methods]: /tracks/go/concepts/methods
+[concept-functions]: /tracks/go/concepts/functions
+[concept-numbers]: /tracks/go/concepts/numbers
+[concept-structs]: /tracks/go/concepts/structs
+[concept-conditionals]:  /tracks/go/concepts/conditionals-if