er the semantic and performance
    characteristics of exceptions are appropriate.''</p>

    <p>An oft-cited guideline is to ask yourself the question ``is this an
    exceptional (or unexpected) situation?'' This guideline has an attractive
    ring to it, but is usually a mistake. The problem is that one person's
    ``exceptional'' is another's ``expected'': when you really look at the
    terms carefully, the distinction evaporates and you're left with no
    guideline. After all, if you check for an e