[Python-Dev] Where to put the interrupt module?

[Kevin Jacobs]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2003, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> > > I'm actually a bit wary of such a generalization, because
> > > KeyboardInterrupt is currently the only *asynchronous* exception that
> > > code needs to worry about.  There is plenty of code that gives
> > > KeyboardInterrupt special treatment, typically of the form:
> > > 
> > >   while MoreWorkToDo:
> > >       try:
> > > 	  ...run a chunk of work which may raise arbitrary exceptions...
> > >       except KeyboardInterrupt:
> > > 	  raise # Don't keep going in this case
> > >       except:
> > > 	  ...report the error and continue...
> > 
> > What about SystemExit?
> 
> It was only an example!
> 
> What should be done with SystemExit depends on what the application is
> trying to do.  In an interactive Python shell, you probably want to
> re-raise it.  But in other cases, SystemExit is an error like all
> others.  (For example, consider a loop that walks a directory tree and
> runs testcases found in files named "test.py".)

Not to be pedantic, but isn't the range of interpretations of SystemExit
exactly analogous to that of KeyboardInterrupt?  Also remember that pounding
Control-C isn't the only way for a process or thread to get a SIGINT (and
thus a KeyboardInterrupt).

-Kevin

-- 
--
Kevin Jacobs
The OPAL Group - Enterprise Systems Architect
Voice: (216) 986-0710 x 19         E-mail: jacobs@theopalgroup.com
Fax:   (216) 986-0714              WWW:    http://www.theopalgroup.com