R: [Python-Dev] Deprecating string exceptions (original) (raw)

Martin v. Loewis martin@v.loewis.de
28 Mar 2002 10:35:36 +0100

barry@zope.com (Barry A. Warsaw) writes:

Can you explain why you think the rule should be so strict? I don't see a problem with using multiple inheritance to satisfy the "must derive" rule.

The question is, whether, given

class Base:pass class MyExc(Base, Exception):pass

it would be valid to write

try: foo() # raises MyExc except Base: pass

If that ought to be allowed, I fail to see the rationale to require that exceptions be derived from Exception: The rationale could be "all exceptions are primarily instances of Exception" - yet in this case, Base is the primary class, and Exception is just a mix-in that plays no further role in this case of exception handling.

If you want to allow Base in the except clause, but do allow Base as the base class of MyExc, I'd be curious what run-time semantics you'd associate with this example.

Regards, Martin