Navigating C++ and Object-Oriented Design

13.3. Exception Hierarchies

We have shown you how inheritance hierarchies and dynamic binding make applications polymorphic. Why not apply this style of programming and design to exceptions as well? With exception hierarchies, the same benefits that class hierarchies give to application objects now apply to exception objects, too. This means you can integrate your exceptions into designs early on, then add different types of exceptions later when new error conditions crop up. In most cases, application code does not have to change to catch these new exceptions.

This section explains what exception hierarchies are, how to use them, and why they are important. We'll also show you how to call virtual functions with exception objects and discriminate ...