Microsoft-specific exception handling mechanisms: Difference between revisions

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== {{Anchor|SEH}}Structured Exception Handling ==

Microsoft Structured Exception Handling is the native exception handling mechanism for Windows and a forerunner technology to [[#Vectored Exception Handling|VEHVectored Exception Handling]] (VEH).<ref name=devx>{{cite web|url=http://www.devx.com/microsoftISV/Article/15992 |title=Vectored Exception Handling in Windows Server 2003 (Through Internet Archive) |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080118162324/http://www.devx.com/microsoftISV/Article/15992 |archivedate = 2008-01-18}}</ref> It features the <code>finally</code> mechanism not present in standard С++ exceptions (but present in most [[Imperative programming|imperative]] languages introduced later). SEH is set up and handled separately for each [[Thread (computing)|thread of execution]].

The Microsoft implementation of SEH is based on a patent licensed from [[Borland]], {{US patent|5,628,016}}. Open-source operating systems have resisted adopting a SEH-based mechanism due to this patent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uninformed.org/index.cgi?v=5&a=2&p=4|author=Matt Miller [aka skape]|publisher=Uninformed Journal|title=Preventing the Exploitation of SEH Overwrites|date=September 2006|