Is there a name for this anti-pattern/code smell?

Question

Let me start by saying that I do not advocate this approach, but I saw it recently and I was wondering if there was a name for it I could use to point the guilty party to. So h

Answer 1

If you expect your method to fail occasionally, but don't consider that exceptional, I prefer this pattern as used in the .NET Framework:

bool TryMyFunction(out FunctionResult result){    

     //...    
     result = new FunctionResult();
}