If you use functions like abort() in Swift, and write code after the function call, you'll notice the compiler issues the warning "Will never be executed":

func foo() {
    abort()
    print("Should not reach here") //Warning for this line
}

And when you call abort() (which doesn't return a value) as the last statement in a function that expects a value to be returned, the compiler doesn't generate a warning.

func bar() -> Int {
    if true {
        abort()
    } else {
        return 1
    }
}

This works because abort() is defined with the return type Never:

public func abort() -> Never

Similarly for exit():

public func exit(_: Int32) -> Never

The documentation says this about Never:

Use Never as the return type when declaring a closure, function, or method that unconditionally throws an error, traps, or otherwise does not terminate.

So if you want to write your own function that logs a catastrophic error and then call fatalError(), you should use the return type Never to signal to the compiler:

func catastrophicError(error: String) -> Never {
    postErrorToSomeCustomLogFacility(error)
}

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