> Errors as values

> To me, this simply makes more sense: isn’t it objectively better to get a finite and predictable error value from a function than an unspecified exception that may or may not happen that you still have to guard against?

Whether an error is returned as a value or thrown is orthogonal to whether it is finite and predictable. Java has checked exceptions. In Swift you also can specify the exceptions that a function may throw. How is it any less predictable than return values?

Semantically, a thrown exception is simply a return value with debug information that gets automatically returned by the caller unless specified otherwise. It is simply a very handy way to reduce boilerplate. Isn't it objectively better to not write the same thing over and over again?

I agree with regards to checked exceptions. Unfortunately Java doesn't support any form of polymorphism over thrown exceptions so it makes your code much harder to reuse. In languages that support polymorphic effects I imagine this is less of a concern.