[robotresearcher]

It is considerably better than C, in that you can return multiple values. A common approach is to return two things: the data result of the function, and a error-indicating bool or int. Checking the error flag right at the call is very easy to read and understand, though some feel the code gets verbose. I feel that the execution path is easier to understand this way than with exceptions ("goto considered harmful").

C's multiple-arguments-but-only-one-return-value always was a bit weird. Does anyone know how C's authors decided on this feature?