This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 115e. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.

2024-11-11

87. Exception specifications on function parameters

Section: 14.5  [except.spec]     Status: CD1     Submitter: Steve Adamczyk     Date: 25 Jan 1999

[Moved to DR at 4/01 meeting.]

In 14.5 [except.spec] paragraph 2:

An exception-specification shall appear only on a function declarator in a function, pointer, reference or pointer to member declaration or definition.
Does that mean in the top-level function declarator, or one at any level? Can one, for example, specify an exception specification on a pointer-to-function parameter of a function? 
    void f(int (*pf)(float) throw(A))
Suggested answer: no. The exception specifications are valid only on the top-level function declarators.

However, if exception specifications are made part of a function's type as has been tentatively agreed, they would have to be allowed on any function declaration.

There is already an example of an exception specification for a parameter in the example in 14.5 [except.spec] paragraph 1.

Proposed resolution (04/01): Change text in 14.5 [except.spec] paragraph 1 from:

An exception-specification shall appear only on a function declarator in a function, pointer, reference or pointer to member declaration or definition.
to:
An exception-specification shall appear only on a function declarator for a function type, pointer to function type, reference to function type, or pointer to member function type that is the top-level type of a declaration or definition, or on such a type appearing as a parameter or return type in a function declarator.

(See also issues 25, 92, and 133.)