The purpose of structured exception handling is to eliminate
the type of control coupling that occurs when error codes are passed up through
calling methods by means of a return value or a parameter until a method is
reached that can handle the error. When errors are handled in this way, each
method in the call stack has to implement code to check the error code and
decide what to do. The decision is generally to suspend whatever the routine is
doing and pass an error code up to the next level until a level is reached that
handles the error. Structured error handling eliminates the need for all this
error handling code between the level where the error occurred and where it is
handled.
Programmers that are unaware of the intent of structured
error handling will often write code to catch exceptions within each routine,
convert the exceptions into error codes, and then pass the error codes up to
the calling routine through a return value or parameter. Handling exceptions
like that is kind of like using goto statements when
you could be using if-then-else or some other structured programming construct.
Don’t convert exceptions to error codes unless some interface requires it.
The Microsoft Exception Management Application Block
Many people recommend using the Microsoft Exception
Management Application Block (EMAB). I don’t. In all
fairness, though, when I was evaluating EMAB, I was evaluating it for use in a
client-side application. The EMAB is
best suited for server-side applications when there is a need to configure the
exception handling behavior of the application after it has been deployed. Since EMAB has a fairly steep learning curve
(in comparison with other components) I don’t recommend it for any other case.
Experiments in Exception Handling
Write a some short programs with
exceptions and debug output to illustrate what happens to exceptions that occur
in certain places.
Exceptions and remoting.
Exceptions have to be serialized and deserialized
when the crossing a remote interface.
Exception Handling In Silverlight
