C# 4.0 Unleashed

Causes of Exceptions

Different situations give rise to exceptions:

• Code defects, such as forgetting null checks causing NullReferenceExceptions or passing invalid arguments to some method that signals the defect using an ArgumentException or variation thereof.

• Runtime disasters that prevent the CLR’s execution engine from continuing execution; for example, due to insufficient memory (OutOfMemoryException) or a stack overflow.

• Error conditions in the environment where the code is operating, such as a missing configuration file, failure to connect to a web service or a database, or an external component failing.

• Rarely ever recommended, exceptions can sometimes be (mis)used to drive certain aspects of code execution. An example is the runtime’s ...