Arguments for or against using Try/Catch as logical operators

Posted by James P. Wright on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by James P. Wright
Published on 2011-09-12T18:30:44Z Indexed on 2012/10/23 5:26 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 273

Filed under:

error-handling

|

programming-logic

I just discovered some lovely code in our companies app that uses Try-Catch blocks as logical operators.
Meaning, "do some code, if that throws this error, do this code, but if that throws this error do this 3rd thing instead".
It uses "Finally" as the "else" statement it appears.
I know that this is wrong inherently, but before I go picking a fight I was hoping for some well thought out arguments.
And hey, if you have arguments FOR the use of Try-Catch in this manner, please do tell.

EDIT
For any who are wondering, the language is C# and the code in question is about 30+ lines and is looking for specific exceptions, it is not handling ALL exceptions.

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about error-handling

Good SQL error handling in Strored Procedure

as seen on Developer IT - Search for 'Developer IT'
When writing SQL procedures, it is really important to handle errors cautiously. Having that in mind will probably save your efforts, time and money. I have been working with MS-SQL 2000 and MS-SQL 2005 (I have not got the opportunity to work with MS-SQL 2008 yet) for many years now and I want to… >>> More
Error Handling Examples(C#)

as seen on DotNetBlocks - Search for 'DotNetBlocks'
“The purpose of reviewing the Error Handling code is to assure that the application fails safely under all possible error conditions, expected and unexpected. No sensitive information is presented to the user when an error occurs.” (OWASP, 2011) No Error Handling The absence of error… >>> More
Building an Error-Handling Mechanism

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Are errors chasing away your visitors? Let Marc Plotz show you how to handle them effectively. ... >>> More
Building an Error-Handling Mechanism

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Are errors chasing away your visitors? Let Marc Plotz show you how to handle them effectively. ... >>> More
Improving ANTLR DSL parse-error messages

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm working on a domain-specific language (DSL) for non-programmers. Non-programmers make a lot of grammar mistakes: they misspell keywords, they don't close parentheses, they don't terminate blocks, etc. I'm using ANTLR to generate my parser; it provides a nifty mechanism for handling RecognitionExceptions… >>> More

Related posts about programming-logic

How can I make my Programming Logic stronger?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
How can I make my Programming Logic stronger? >>> More
Programming logic to group a users activities like Facebook

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
So I am trying to develop an activity feed for my site. Basically If I UNION a bunch of activities into a feed I would end up with something like the following. Chris is now friends with Mark Chris is now friends with Dave What I want though is a neater way of grouping these similar posts… >>> More
programming logic and design pleas friends i need a flowcharts or pseudocode

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
***the midvile park maintains records containing info about players on it's soccer teams . each record contain a players first name,last name,and team number . the team are team number team name 1 goal getters 2 the force 3 … >>> More
Programming Logic upgrading from VB6 to Vb.net

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi guys, I have been programming in vb6 for few time ago and i used open SQL Server connection and command objects to make database traansactions. I have been searching for similar approaches in vb.net too but not finding any starting point. How can we work similarly in vb.net application? >>> More
C Programming Logic Error?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The following code compiles fine, but does not allow the user to choose whether or not the program is to run again. After giving the user the answer, the program automatically terminates. I placed the main code in a "do while" loop to have the ability to convert more than one time if I wanted too… >>> More