Should I inherit from std::exception?

Question

I\'ve seen at least one reliable source (a C++ class I took) recommend that application-specific exception classes in C++ should inherit from std::exception. I\

Answer 1

If all your possible exceptions derive from std::exception, your catch block can simply catch(std::exception & e) and be assured of capturing everything.

Once you've captured the exception, you can use that what method to get more information. C++ doesn't support duck-typing, so another class with a what method would require a different catch and different code to use it.