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Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.

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Inside Macintosh: PowerPC System Software /


Chapter 4 - Exception Manager

This chapter describes the Exception Manager, the part of the Macintosh system software that handles exceptions that occur during the execution of PowerPC applications or other software. The Exception Manager provides a simple way for your application to handle exceptions that occur in its context.

You need the information in this chapter if you need to handle exceptions that occur in native PowerPC code. If your application or other software is written in 680x0 code and therefore executes under the 68LC040 Emulator on PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers, you do not in general need to read this chapter, because the existing 680x0 mechanism for handling exceptions is fully supported by the emulator.

IMPORTANT
The Exception Manager is available only in the system software for PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers. In addition, not all features described here are available in the first version. For example, the Exception Manager in the first version does not return exceptions that arise during floating-point calculations. If your application performs floating-point operations and needs to handle any exceptions that arise during those operations, you should use the exception-
handling mechanisms provided by the PowerPC Numerics library. See Inside Macintosh: PowerPC Numerics for complete information.
To use this chapter, you should already be generally familiar with the Macintosh Operating System. See the books Inside Macintosh: Processes and Inside Macintosh: Memory for information about the run-time architecture of the 680x0 environment. You also need to be familiar with the run-time architecture of PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers, as explained in the chapter "Introduction to PowerPC System Software."

This chapter begins with a description of exceptions and their handling in the PowerPC native environment. Then it shows how to use the Exception Manager to install your own exception handler.


Chapter Contents
About the Exception Manager
Exception Contexts
Types of Exceptions
Using the Exception Manager
Installing an Exception Handler
Writing an Exception Handler
Exception Manager Reference
Constants
Exception Kinds
Memory Reference Kinds
Data Structures
Machine Information Records
Register Information Records
Floating-Point Information Records
Memory Exception Records
Exception Information Records
Exception Manager Routines
Application-Defined Routines
Summary of the Exception Manager
C Summary
Constants
Data Types
Exception Manager Routines
Application-Defined Routines

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© Apple Computer, Inc.
3 JUL 1996