Error Handling: A Third Way Beyond Go and Rust

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:45:00 +0800

This article is based on Zig 0.16.

Three Error Handling Paradigms

Error handling is one of the most debated topics in programming language design. Go’s multiple return values, Rust’s Result<T, E> enum, and Zig’s error union type represent three fundamentally different philosophies. This article assumes you have Go or Rust experience and uses that as a reference frame to understand Zig’s design.

Go: Multi-return + if err != nil

Go’s philosophy is “explicit over implicit” — functions can return multiple values, and the convention is that the last return value is error. Every call site must handle it:

Error Handling on Mi&Bee Blog

Error Handling: A Third Way Beyond Go and Rust

Three Error Handling Paradigms

Go: Multi-return + if err != nil