Abstract

Just as the structure of the normal operations of a system tends to degrade as the system evolves, the structure of exception handling also degrades. In this paper, we draw on our experience building and analyzing the exception structure of Java programs to describe why and how exception structure degrades. Fortunately, we need not let our exception structure languish. We also relate our experience at regaining control of exception structure in several existing programs using a technique based on software containment. Keywords Exception Handling, Program Structure, Software Structure, Error Handling, Design. 1 INTRODUCTION To help manage complexity, software developers use various types of structure to organize the source code for a system. Programming language constructs, such as procedures and procedure calls, provide a means of expressing fine-grained structure. Architectural styles [14], such as layers or pipes and filters, provide a means of describing coarse-grained structure...

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