How do I use try…catch to catch floating point errors?

Question

I\'m using c++ in visual studio express to generate random expression trees for use in a genetic algorithm type of program.

Because they are random, the trees often

Answer 1

According to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa289157%28v=vs.71%29.aspx#floapoint_topic8 ,
it seems possible to throw C++ exceptions in MSVC

Create the exceptions classes:

class float_exception : public std::exception {};
class fe_denormal_operand : public float_exception {};
class fe_divide_by_zero : public float_exception {};
class fe_inexact_result : public float_exception {};
class fe_invalid_operation : public float_exception {};
class fe_overflow : public float_exception {};
class fe_stack_check : public float_exception {};
class fe_underflow : public float_exception {};

Map C++ throw to FPU exceptions using structured exception handler

void se_fe_trans_func( unsigned int u, EXCEPTION_POINTERS* pExp )
{
    switch (u)
    {
    case STATUS_FLOAT_DENORMAL_OPERAND:   throw fe_denormal_operand();
    case STATUS_FLOAT_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO:     throw fe_divide_by_zero();
    etc...
    };
}
. . .
_set_se_translator(se_fe_trans_func);

You can then use try catch

try
{
    floating-point code that might throw divide-by-zero 
   or other floating-point exception
}
catch(fe_divide_by_zero)
{
    cout << "fe_divide_by_zero exception detected" << endl;
}
catch(float_exception)
{
    cout << "float_exception exception detected" << endl;
}