Right; but the computer is much better at fixed patterns than I am. This is the philosophy behind linters, automatic indenting tools in IDEs and gofmt and friends.

Given a choice, I’d rather that the compiler does the work to write “if err != nil …” thing, using any mechanism for it - exceptions, or whatever.

You’re right of course. I can deal with patterns. I do so every day. I can type that code over and over and visually learn to spot when I do it wrong. But I’ve got a computer right here in front of me. I’d rather get the computer to do that work and spend my attention focusing on the task in front of me.