Why is this an issue?

When writing an exception raise in Delphi, a common mistake is to omit the raise, causing the exception to be created but not actually used. This is bad for a number of reasons:

• The exception object is never freed, causing a memory leak.
• Control flow continues as usual, even though an undesired exceptional state has been reached.
• The bug is easy to miss but can greatly alter the path of execution.

How to fix it

Add the raise keyword. If the exception is not required, delete the constructor invocation instead.

procedure DeleteDatabase;
begin
  if InProductionEnvironment then begin
    EDontBreakProduction.Create('DeleteDatabase attempted in production');
  end;

  Database.DeleteAllImportantRecords;
end;

procedure DeleteDatabase;
begin
  if InProductionEnvironment then begin
    raise EDontBreakProduction.Create('DeleteDatabase attempted in production');
  end;

  Database.DeleteAllImportantRecords;
end;