Simplest way to throw an error/exception with a custom message in Swift 2?

Question

I want to do something in Swift 2 that I\'m used to doing in multiple other languages: throw a runtime exception with a custom message. For example (in Java):

Answer 1

Based on @Nick keets answer, here is a more complete example:

extension String: Error {} // Enables you to throw a string

extension String: LocalizedError { // Adds error.localizedDescription to Error instances
    public var errorDescription: String? { return self }
}

func test(color: NSColor) throws{
    if color == .red {
        throw "I don't like red"
    }else if color == .green {
        throw "I'm not into green"
    }else {
        throw "I like all other colors"
    }
}

do {
    try test(color: .green)
} catch let error where error.localizedDescription == "I don't like red"{
    Swift.print ("Error: \(error)") // "I don't like red"
}catch let error {
    Swift.print ("Other cases: Error: \(error.localizedDescription)") // I like all other colors
}

Originally published on my swift blog: http://eon.codes/blog/2017/09/01/throwing-simple-errors/