Imageeither

Imageeither is a data type used in image processing contexts to represent a computation that may produce an image or fail with an error. It is modeled after the functional programming concept Either, with one branch containing an image and the other carrying diagnostic information about the failure. In practice, imageeither helps propagate errors without throwing exceptions, enabling robust error handling in pipelines that manipulate images.

Structure and semantics: An imageeither value is typically parameterized by two types: the image type and the error type. Common constructors are Left(error) to indicate failure and Right(image) to indicate success (names vary by library, e.g., Err/Ok, Fail/Success). This dual structure allows callers to distinguish between successful results and error conditions in a type-safe way.

Usage: Functions that operate on images can return imageeither, allowing callers to chain operations using map, flatMap, or pattern matching. On success, image transformations apply, while errors can be logged, transformed, or recovered from without interrupting the entire pipeline. This approach supports composable, declarative error handling in complex image-processing tasks.

Example: loadImage(path) -> imageeither; imageeither.map(resize).flatMap(applyFilter).orElse(defaultImage) demonstrates how a pipeline can continue with a fallback in case of failure, while successful steps apply in sequence.

See also: Either type, Result type, Optional/Maybe, image processing libraries and frameworks that support functional error handling. The term is commonly associated with languages and libraries that emphasize algebraic data types and explicit error management.