Build-in or user-defined exceptions?

[Torsten Bronger]

Hallöchen!

I write a module, and so I must raise exceptions at several points.
The PEP 8 says that a module should define their own exceptions base
class, derived from "Exception", and derivatives of that.

However, the build-in exceptions cover most of the error types that
occur in a standard program.  For example, my module communicates
with measurement instruments, so any communication error would fit
perfectly to the build-in "IOError", wouldn't it?  Invalid arguments
can raise "TypeError"s, and so on and so forth.

Is it considered good style to raise build-in exceptions whereever
one thinks it's appropriate?  Is the definition of module exceptions
derived from "IOError", "TypeError" etc. a good idea?  Is there some
sort of style guide for recommended exceptions design in Python?

Thank you!

Tschö,
Torsten.

-- 
Torsten Bronger, aquisgrana, europa vetus