Question

what are the disadvantages of not using exception handling application block or any other unified exception handling library. The only thing I can think of is that code will end up with different type of Try/Catch all over the place depending upon the developer. How can lack of planning in this regard, cause real world problems down the line?

Answer 1

I’ve recently began reading up on this topic myself. My basic understanding is:

1. Only catch an exception if you plan to handle it.
2. Overuse of try/catch can lead to exception swallowing and/or the loss of valuable stack trace information and can lead to maintainability issues (what if you decide to standardize your errors/logging?). Instead use try/finally or using blocks to implement clean up.
3. Catch exceptions at the boundaries via a global exception handler.

Again, this is just what I’ve gathered initially. I think short answer to your question is maintainability and the potential loss of valuable trace information. Below are some sources:

Good Exception Management Rules of Thumb

Understanding and Using Exceptions