Re: Are so many subclasses such a good idea?

From:
"Chris Thomasson" <cristom@comcast.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:35:34 -0700
Message-ID:
<d8-dnbG7hPDpL8zVnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@comcast.com>
<khapi@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8b9779e5-5399-4da4-93df-2b6f338caf13@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

On Jun 12, 5:49 pm, Kai-Uwe Bux <jkherci...@gmx.net> wrote:

And where is the _selective_ catching of errors?


Here:
try {
  if (a)
     throw(UNHAPPY);
  if (b)
     throw(UNHAPPIER);
  if (c)
     throw(UNHAPPIEST);
} catch (int which) {
  switch (which) {
  case UNHAPPY: ... break;
  case UNHAPPIER: ... break;
  case UNHAPPIEST: ... break;
  }
}

The point is: different exceptions can rise up in the call stack to
different levels. The type determines which catch handler is used.


True, that reinforces C++'s compile-time typing,
which some consider to be an advantage of C++.


Why use the switch statement when the nature of the try/catch functionality
can do this for you? Example:

namespace error {
  struct base {};
  namespace mood {
    struct base : public error::base {};
    struct unhappy : public mood::base {};
    struct unhappier : public mood::base {};
    struct unhappiest : public mood::base {};
  }
}

try {
  if (a) { throw error::mood::unhappy(); }
  if (b) { throw error::mood::unhappier(); }
  if (c) { throw error::mood::unhappiest(); }

} catch (error::mood::unhappiest const& e) {

} catch (error::mood::unhappier const& e) {

} catch (error::mood::unhappy const& e) {

} catch (error::mood::base const& e) {

} catch (error::base const& e) {

} catch (...) {

}

The C++ exception handling mechanism is very expressive. I personally like
it a lot. Here is another example. Take a mutex class which can throw
exceptions. Here is one way to write it:
___________________________________________________________________
class mutex_with_exceptions {
  pthread_mutex_t m_mtx;

  [...];

public:
  struct error {
    struct base {};

    struct lock {
      struct base : public error::base {};
      struct invalid : public lock::base {};
      struct priority_violation : pubilc lock::invalid {};
      struct deadlock : public lock::base {};
      struct max_recursion : public lock::base {};

      static void raise_status(int const status) {
        switch (status) {
          case EINVAL:
            throw priority_violation();
          case EAGAIN:
            throw max_recursion();
          case EDEADLK:
            throw deadlock();
          default:
            assert(false);
            std::unexpected();
        }
      }
    };

    struct unlock {
      struct base : public error::base {};
      struct not_owner : public unlock::base {};

      static void raise_status(int const status) {
        switch (status) {
          case EPERM:
            throw not_owner();
          default:
            assert(false);
            std::unexpected();
        }
      }
    };
  };

public:
  void lock() {
    int const status = pthread_mutex_lock(&m_mtx);
    if (status) {
      error::lock::raise_status(status);
    }
  }

  void unlock() {
    int const status = pthread_mutex_unlock(&m_mtx);
    if (status) {
      error::unlock::raise_status(status);
    }
  }
};
___________________________________________________________________

The exception hierarchy for the `mutex_with_exceptions' class is verbose.

Any thoughts?

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