From: use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com   
      
   > Let's say I implement a class implementing high-precision floating   
   > point arithmetic and also a square-root function Sqrt which promises   
   > to return a properly rounded result of the same precision as the   
   > input.  Now I call Sqrt(-1): what should happen?  The function can't   
   > keep its promise since result isn't representable, so should I   
   > 1) throw an exception, or 2) terminate the program?   
   >   
      
   I reason like this.   
      
   1) This is Defensive Programming* that temporarily may help your project   
   continue but will be troublesome in the long run when things become   
   unpredictable and forces you to handle conditions in run-time that   
   actually are logic errors that should be fixed in compile-time.   
      
   2) I would argue that this is the correct way of doing it and rather   
   check the argument before I provide it to Sqrt(). In essence; don't push   
   your problem in front of you to other functionality.   
      
   Just as a comparison I would guess that most programmers use   
   std::vector::operator[] that does not throw instead of vector::at() that   
   throws. People make sure we don't go out of bounds and if we do we want   
   to know about it quickly and fix it in compile-time.   
      
   Regards,   
   Daniel   
      
      
   *) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_programming   
      
      
   --   
         [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ]   
         [ comp.lang.c++.moderated.    First time posters: Do this! ]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)