diff --git a/country.go b/country.go
index 19ce497556f21ceeb8943230604a017e0534d5a3..05fa12613af163f4693ce3c1ebd23697019c0329 100644
--- a/country.go
+++ b/country.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package assignment1
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ func countryRequest(url string, c *http.Client, country *Country) {
 	// decodes the response into the struct
 	err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&country)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	// closes the body
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ func speciesInCountryRequest(url string, c *http.Client, country *Country) {
 	// decodes the response into the array of results
 	err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(nameAndKey)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	// closes the body
@@ -67,6 +66,7 @@ func HandlerCountry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	urlQuery := r.URL.RawQuery
 	parts := strings.Split(r.URL.Path, "/")
 
+	// checks
 	if len(parts) != 5 || parts[1] != "conservation" || parts[2] != "v1" || parts[3] != "country" || parts[4] == "" {
 		status := http.StatusBadRequest
 		http.Error(w, "Expecting format /conservation/v1/country/'AlphaCode'", status)
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func HandlerCountry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	APIURL += parts[4]
 	APIURL2 := "http://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?country=" + parts[4] + "&" + urlQuery
 
-	//empty country struct
+	// empty country struct
 	country := &Country{}
 
 	// makes a client
@@ -90,6 +90,6 @@ func HandlerCountry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// encodes everything to the browser
 	err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(country)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/diagnostics.go b/diagnostics.go
index 33cb93d05140e37c2fbf1dcc58d99d67d49f762b..4e120a522010a7fdb731c4f93ce4823512091add 100644
--- a/diagnostics.go
+++ b/diagnostics.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package assignment1
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 )
 
@@ -30,6 +29,6 @@ func HandlerDiag(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// encodes everything to the browser
 	err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(diagnostics)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/func.go b/func.go
index 336a1cc656f455cc973c28f17d82720996e49873..af66e733cc13034ce1f700fa93a73f3674abe901 100644
--- a/func.go
+++ b/func.go
@@ -11,17 +11,17 @@ func HandlerNil(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	http.Error(w, "Invalid request", http.StatusBadRequest)
 }
 
-// handles all the requests and returns the response
+// handles the requests from the apis and returns the response
 func doRequest(url string, c *http.Client) *http.Response {
 
 	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err)
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	resp, err := c.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err)
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	return resp
diff --git a/species.go b/species.go
index ae96f4d6edb53fdc1f9960e8ab7b7ce869733659..52c1d7aba8dff767f1ccf90166bbcb5a39c8df39 100644
--- a/species.go
+++ b/species.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package assignment1
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ func speciesRequest(url string, c *http.Client, species *Species) {
 	// decodes the response into the struct
 	err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&species)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	// closes the body
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ func yearRequest(url string, c *http.Client, species *Species) {
 	// decodes the response into the struct
 	err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&year)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
 	// puts the year from the year struct into the species struct
@@ -79,6 +78,6 @@ func HandlerSpecies(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// encodes species which now contains year as well
 	err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(species)
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Error", err.Error())
+		panic(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/struct.go b/struct.go
index f5c00cbc99ea871d9f6330b9b0e906a8ab1d0d2d..aa35085d16bd191cdb89278c2b980e5e0c43ab9f 100644
--- a/struct.go
+++ b/struct.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ type Year struct {
 	Year string `json:"bracketYear"`
 }
 
-// Diag struct:
+// Diag struct: struct for diagnostics
 type Diag struct {
 	Gbif          int
 	Restcountries int
diff --git a/uptime.go b/uptime.go
index 99d49819f97ed80fecd3475b76b25b5de2422c3f..e1aaf5272b561028155a170a459488bb2b989387 100644
--- a/uptime.go
+++ b/uptime.go
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-var startTime time.Time // to measure the time since the last service restart
+// to measure the time since the last service restart
+var startTime time.Time
 
 // Uptime function: returns time since start time in seconds
 func Uptime() float64 {