Why not catch general Exceptions

Question

My VS just told me;

Warning 2 CA1031 : Microsoft.Design : Modify \'Program.Main(string[])\' to catch a more specific exception than \'Exception\' or r

Answer 1

Having worked on equipment used by emergency responders, I would rather the user see an ugly error message than to accidently swallow an exception that misleads the user into believing everything is "ok". Depending on your application, the consequence could be anything from nothing to a lost sale to a catastrophic loss of life.

If a person were going to catch all exception, show a better error dialog, and then quit the application, that's ok.. but if they are going to continue running after swallowing an unknown exception, I would fire a person for that. It's not ok. Ever.

Good coding is about practices that assume humans make mistakes. Assuming all "critical" exceptions have been caught and handled is a bad idea.