exceptcatch

Exceptcatch is a term used in discussions of programming language design to describe a unified approach to exception handling that blends elements of Python's except clauses with languages that use catch blocks, such as Java and C#. In this concept, a single try block is followed by a sequence of exceptcatch handlers. Each handler specifies the exception types or conditions it wants to handle, and the body executes when a matching exception is raised. Handlers are evaluated in declaration order, and the first that matches handles the event. Some proposals allow combining multiple types with predicates, enabling fine-grained filtering without additional code in the handler.

Compared with conventional try-except or try-catch, exceptcatch aims to provide a consistent surface across languages and reduce confusion about where to place handling logic, especially for multi-typed errors. It may support optional else or finally sections, and allow rethrowing or wrapping exceptions within the handler.

Criticism notes that unifying syntaxes can obscure semantics (for example, how to map matched exceptions with cleanup) and may complicate compiler or runtime implementations. Because exceptcatch is not implemented in major languages as a standard feature, it remains primarily a topic of academic proposals and experiments.

See also: exception handling, try-catch, Python except, Java catch, pattern matching in exception handling.

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