Discussion on Exception Handling

What does /prog/ think of exception handling, as opposed to other methods such as return values or a global error variable/object? Personally, I think that exceptions in languages like C++ and Java have really introduced a much better method of handling errors that is language-independent. It makes your code infinitely more concise and readable, and now your errors actually have meaning beyond 0, "", null, etc.

I'm in my first year of computer programming at a local university, and we're just learning about exceptions now. It was like the world opened up; I couldn't believe how I could have accomplished anything before this, not knowing about exception handling. Never again will I have to use archaic methods of error handling.

>>15

Assertions are for internal errors. Errors in general are exceptional situations that can arise in the normal operation of a correct program.

Do you think you can just assert that you have enough memory? Or that you have the privileges to access something? Or that you're properly configured? Etc.