When is it OK to catch a RuntimeException

Question

On a recent project I recommended catching a RuntimeException within a test harness code and logging it. The code processes a series of inputs from a database, and I do not

Answer 1

In my code 99% of my exceptions are derived from runtime_exception.

The reasons I catch exceptions are:

• Catch Log and Fix problem.
• Catch Log and Generate a more specific exception and throw
• Catch Log and rethrow.
• Catch Log and Kill operation (discard exception)
  • User/request initiated action fails.
    An HTTP request handler for example. I would rather the requested operation die rather than bring the Service down. (Though preferably the handler has enough sense to return a 500 error code.)
  • Test case passed/failed with an exception.
  • All exceptions not in the main thread.
    Allowing exceptions to escape a thread is usually badly documented but usually causes program termination (without stack unwinding).