Exception trapping in C?

[KKramsch]

One of the features from other languages that I miss most in C is
trappable exceptions. More specifically, I think it's great to be
able to demarcate a whole block of code where several exceptions
can happen at various points, so that any one of these exceptions
can be trapped and handled by the exception-handling code collected
in one place after the block. This also means that the exception
generating code can be much cleaner, since all it has to do is
raise the exception locally and bomb. In contrast, in traditional
C programming, many, if not all, function calls have to be surrounded
by error-checking and error-handling code. The error checking can
easily overwhelm the code.

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

Thanks!

Karl
--
Sent from a spam-bucket account; I check it once in a blue moon. If
you still want to e-mail me, cut out the extension from my address,
and make the obvious substitutions on what's left.

[Eric Sosman]

KKramsch wrote:

One of the features from other languages that I miss most in C is
trappable exceptions. More specifically, I think it's great to be
able to demarcate a whole block of code where several exceptions
can happen at various points, so that any one of these exceptions
can be trapped and handled by the exception-handling code collected
in one place after the block. This also means that the exception
generating code can be much cleaner, since all it has to do is
raise the exception locally and bomb. In contrast, in traditional
C programming, many, if not all, function calls have to be surrounded
by error-checking and error-handling code. The error checking can
easily overwhelm the code.

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

Many people have used setjmp() and longjmp() to build
exception facilities of varying degrees of sophistication.
The lack of "linguistic " support means that setjmp() and
longjmp() must be used with great care, and that the compiler
is usually unable to warn you about misuse. There are also
some nasty issues about the values of non-volatile variables
after longjmp().

A more modest function-local error-handling scheme can
be built with the `goto' statement. Each fallible operation
must still be tested for failure, but the action upon failure
can be to `goto' a chunk of all-purpose recovery code. This
code will clean up by freeing dynamic memory, closing opened
files, and so on, and typically returns a failure code as the
function value. Unlike setjmp()/longjmp() schemes, this sort
of thing is "linguistically " supported and the compiler can
detect some errors (e.g., trying to `goto' a label that's not
in the same function).

--
Er*********@sun .com

[jacob navia]

KKramsch wrote:

One of the features from other languages that I miss most in C is
trappable exceptions. More specifically, I think it's great to be
able to demarcate a whole block of code where several exceptions
can happen at various points, so that any one of these exceptions
can be trapped and handled by the exception-handling code collected
in one place after the block. This also means that the exception
generating code can be much cleaner, since all it has to do is
raise the exception locally and bomb. In contrast, in traditional
C programming, many, if not all, function calls have to be surrounded
by error-checking and error-handling code. The error checking can
easily overwhelm the code.

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

Thanks!

Karl

The lcc-win32 compiler implements the exception handling proposed
by Microsoft for the windows system, and implemented in most windows
compilers
__try {
// protected block
}
__except(EXCEPT _EXECUTE_HANDLE R) {
exception handling block
}

In future versions this will be extended to try/catch.

The problems with setjmp/longjmp (that also can be used to build
exception handling mechanisms) is that you have to write code to
handle all exceptions one by one.

It would be nice if the C language would standardize the use
of catch/throw, but surely this is too much asking, hence this
non portable solution.

For a discussion about this see
ftp://ftp.cs.virginia.edu:/pub/lcc-win32/tutorial.pdf

See there 1.34.5 Structured exception handling.

[Dave Vandervies]

In article <41************ **********@news .wanadoo.fr>,
jacob navia <ja***@jacob.re mcomp.fr> wrote:

KKramsch wrote:

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

The lcc-win32 compiler implements the exception handling proposed
by Microsoft for the windows system,

I'm sure if the OP wanted an implementation-specific answer, he'd've
posted in an implementation-specific group.

Please restrict your comments in comp.lang.c to the C language itself;
there are plenty of other, more appropriate, places to discuss proprietary
extensions.
dave

--
Dave Vandervies dj******@csclub .uwaterloo.ca
I later told my sister (23 years old) that I had got a personal reply from
Dennis Ritchie. She said she didn't believe it. What is funny is that my sister
... probably doesn't even know who Dennis Ritchie is. --Joona Palaste in CLC

[Merrill & Michele]

"Eric Sosman" <er*********@su n.com> wrote in message
news:co******** **@news1brm.Cen tral.Sun.COM...

KKramsch wrote:

One of the features from other languages that I miss most in C is
trappable exceptions. More specifically, I think it's great to be
able to demarcate a whole block of code where several exceptions
can happen at various points, so that any one of these exceptions
can be trapped and handled by the exception-handling code collected
in one place after the block. This also means that the exception
generating code can be much cleaner, since all it has to do is
raise the exception locally and bomb. In contrast, in traditional
C programming, many, if not all, function calls have to be surrounded
by error-checking and error-handling code. The error checking can
easily overwhelm the code.

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

Many people have used setjmp() and longjmp() to build
exception facilities of varying degrees of sophistication.
The lack of "linguistic " support means that setjmp() and
longjmp() must be used with great care, and that the compiler
is usually unable to warn you about misuse. There are also
some nasty issues about the values of non-volatile variables
after longjmp().

A more modest function-local error-handling scheme can
be built with the `goto' statement. Each fallible operation
must still be tested for failure, but the action upon failure
can be to `goto' a chunk of all-purpose recovery code. This
code will clean up by freeing dynamic memory, closing opened
files, and so on, and typically returns a failure code as the
function value. Unlike setjmp()/longjmp() schemes, this sort
of thing is "linguistically " supported and the compiler can
detect some errors (e.g., trying to `goto' a label that's not
in the same function).

Douglas Gwyn in news:2Y******** ************@co mcast.com
quote
The need for exception handling is amply demonstrated
by the number of independent kludge implementations
of it, based on setjmp/longjmp since that is the only
fe[a]sible way to do anything of the kind in Standard C,
combined with the evident deficiencies of such kludges.

One hindering factor would be the matter of C++
compatibility, which is hard if not impossible to
achieve without extending C in ways we have in the
past rejected.
end quote

As for me, I wonder why C is lightning-fast while a change to C would be
only be described as glacial if the passage of time could be reckoned in the
language at all. MPJ

[KKramsch]

In <5s************ ********@comcas t.com> "Merrill & Michele" <be********@com cast.net> writes:

Douglas Gwyn in news:2Y******** ************@co mcast.com
quote
The need for exception handling is amply demonstrated
by the number of independent kludge implementations
of it, based on setjmp/longjmp since that is the only
fe[a]sible way to do anything of the kind in Standard C,
combined with the evident deficiencies of such kludges.

Can anyone point me to any one such (open/vendor-independent)
implementations ? I'm thinking that such a kluge, imperfect as it
may be, could be useful if used carefully during development and
testing and then disabled in the production code.

Karl

--
Sent from a spam-bucket account; I check it once in a blue moon. If
you still want to e-mail me, cut out the extension from my address,
and make the obvious substitutions on what's left.

[Merrill & Michele]

"KKramsch"

"Merrill & Michele" <be********@com cast.net> writes:
Douglas Gwyn in news:2Y******** ************@co mcast.com
quote
The need for exception handling is amply demonstrated
by the number of independent kludge implementations
of it, based on setjmp/longjmp since that is the only
fe[a]sible way to do anything of the kind in Standard C,
combined with the evident deficiencies of such kludges.

Can anyone point me to any one such (open/vendor-independent)
implementations ? I'm thinking that such a kluge, imperfect as it
may be, could be useful if used carefully during development and
testing and then disabled in the production code.

When you get some code to look at, send it along. Keep in mind C89:

4 An invocation of the setjmp macro shall appear only in one of
the following contexts:

- the entire controlling expression of a selection or iteration
statement;

- one operand of a relational or equality operator with the
other operand an integer constant expression, with the
resulting expression being the entire controlling expression
of a selection or iteration statement;

- the operand of a unary ! operator with the resulting expression
being the entire controlling expression of a selection or
iteration statement; or

- the entire expression of an expression statement (possibly
cast to void).

The OPer of this I call Vlad the Impaler. He has extraordinary respect for
such matters, and I would not cross him. MPJ

[Dan Pop]

In <co**********@r eader1.panix.co m> KKramsch <ka************ *******@yahooPE RIODcom.invalid > writes:

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

Why bother? If you need C++, you know where to find it.

BTW, C++ exceptions are one of the major headaches of the C++
implementors.

Dan
--
Dan Pop
DESY Zeuthen, RZ group
Email: Da*****@ifh.de
Currently looking for a job in the European Union

[Keith Thompson]

jacob navia <ja***@jacob.re mcomp.fr> writes:

KKramsch wrote:

[...]

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?
Thanks!
Karl

The lcc-win32 compiler implements the exception handling proposed
by Microsoft for the windows system, and implemented in most windows
compilers
__try {
// protected block
}
__except(EXCEPT _EXECUTE_HANDLE R) {
exception handling block
}

That's nice, but the previous poster asked about implementing it *in C*.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keit h) ks***@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

[jacob navia]

Dave Vandervies wrote:

In article <41************ **********@news .wanadoo.fr>,
jacob navia <ja***@jacob.re mcomp.fr> wrote:

KKramsch wrote:

Is there any way to implement something like C++'s try/catch
mechanism for exception trapping in C?

The lcc-win32 compiler implements the exception handling proposed
by Microsoft for the windows system,

I'm sure if the OP wanted an implementation-specific answer, he'd've
posted in an implementation-specific group.

If you had cared to *read* what the original poster wrote you would
have seen:
One of the features from other languages that I miss most in C is
trappable exceptions.
That was the first sentence of his post.
Please restrict your comments in comp.lang.c to the C language itself;
there are plenty of other, more appropriate, places to discuss proprietary
extensions.

I do not see any propietary extensions in a construct that is widely
used by all windows compilers. I am not claiming any copyright in
that either.

jacob