Node:Exception Terminology, Next:Catch, Up:Exceptions

26.7.1 Exception Terminology

There are several variations on the terminology for dealing with non-local jumps. It is useful to be aware of them, and to realize that they all refer to the same basic mechanism.

• Actually making a non-local jump may be called raising an exception, raising a signal, throwing an exception or doing a long jump. When the jump indicates an error condition, people may talk about signalling, raising or throwing an error.
• Handling the jump at its target may be referred to as catching or handling the exception, signal or, where an error condition is involved, error.

Where signal and signalling are used, special care is needed to avoid the risk of confusion with POSIX signals. (Especially considering that Guile handles POSIX signals by throwing a corresponding kind of exception: REFFIXME.)

This manual prefers to speak of throwing and catching exceptions, since this terminology matches the corresponding Guile primitives.