Design Guidelines for Exceptions 

Exceptions are the standard mechanism for reporting errors. Applications and libraries should not use return codes to communicate errors. The use of exceptions adds to a consistent framework design and allows error reporting from members, such as constructors, that cannot have a return type. Exceptions also allow programs to handle the error or terminate as appropriate. The default behavior is to terminate an application if it does not handle a thrown exception. For a detailed discussion of exceptions in the .NET Framework, see Handling and Throwing Exceptions.

Portions Copyright 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Portions Copyright Addison-Wesley Corporation. All rights reserved.

For more information on design guidelines, see the "Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries" book by Krzysztof Cwalina and Brad Abrams, published by Addison-Wesley, 2005.

• Exception Throwing
  Describes guidelines for throwing exceptions.

• Exception Handling
  Describes guidelines for catching exceptions.

• Catching and Throwing Standard Exception Types
  Describes guidelines for working with common exceptions provided by the .NET Framework.

• Designing Custom Exceptions
  Describes guidelines for defining new exception types.

• Exceptions and Performance
  Describes guidelines for using design patterns to avoid performance issues related to exceptions.

• .NET Framework Class Library Reference
  Documents each of the public classes that constitute the .NET Framework.

• Design Guidelines for Developing Class Libraries
  Describes the best practices for class library development.