Exceptional C++

In other fluffy, inefficient lanuages like Java, exceptions are all derived from one base. This has the unfortunate side effect of catching all exceptions whenever you catch (Exception e). Fortunately, the C++ code I am working with does no such clustering - if you would like to catch FileFormatException, then you best catch it or catch (...). Otherwise, it is left to some other code to deal with this stray. Useful? Maybe. Infuriating? Certainly. My impression so far is that every exception should derive from a common base (probably std::exception), so that you can always tell the user something. If you must instead take the tragic path of catching (...), then your error message will probably look something like this:

"An exception has ocurred. Sorry."

Because you don't have any idea what happened - only that something happened. Let me set you on the right path: knowing that something happened isn't useful to anyone - including yourself. Check your parents, kids - std::exception is your friend.