Why does Try-Catch require curly braces

Question

Just curious: Why is the syntax for try catch in C# (Java also?) hard coded for multiple statements? Why doesn\'t the language allow:

int i;
string s = DateT         


        

Answer 1

Probably to discourage overuse. A try-catch block is big and ugly, and you're going to notice when you're using it. This mirrors the effect that a catch has on your application's performance - catching an exception is extremely slow compared to a simple boolean test.

In general you should avoid errors, not handle them. In the example you give, a much more efficient method would be to use

if(!int.TryParse(s, out i))
 i=0;