Re: [boost] [system] - system_error

From: Jeremy Day (jeremy.day_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-06-29 12:37:11

Greetings, everyone.  This is my first time posting here, so if I screw this
up, please bear with me.

On 6/29/06, Beman Dawes <bdawes_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> I afraid I still don't know the rule as to when you need to provide a
> throw() specifier rather than just documenting that a function never
> throws.
>
> Is there guidance from exception experts?

I have spoken with Bjarne Stroustrup about this (access to "the man" is one
of the benefits of living near Texas A&M University), and he is of the
opinion that exception specifications are never reliable and should not be
used, as they give programmers a false sense of security.  Thus, exception
guarantees should be documented in comments (or in some other variety of
documentation), rather than through throw() specifications.

Jeremy