GCC does employ DWARF exception handling (the zero-cost EH model) on ARM7TDMI. While the cost is zero in time, it is not zero in space. The EH tables, unwinde

GCC does employ DWARF exception handling (the zero-cost EH model) on ARM7TDMI. While the cost is zero in time, it is not zero in space. The EH tables, unwinder code, and support code for them have a non-zero space cost. While the space cost is normally considered negligible in a workstation or server environment, in a microcontroller environment it most certainly is not.