> the compiler struggles to optimize them, Nitpick: I'd say if you need the compiler to optimize exception handling you are using them wrong. Exceptions are f

> the compiler struggles to optimize them, Nitpick: I'd say if you need the compiler to optimize exception handling you are using them wrong. Exceptions are for exceptional circumstances. (if you mean that exceptions mess up optimization of surrounding code that could be a bigger deal but I won't accept that without pointers to benchmarks$