Abstract: An exception handling system is described herein that provides one or more distinguished classes of software exceptions that are handled differently than other exceptions. The system treats a distinguished exception as a “hard to catch” exception that is not passed to the catch block of program code unless a developer performs extra steps to acknowledge the distinguished nature of the exception and confirm that the program code is prepared to properly handle the exception. Exceptions that fall into this class are typically those that represent conditions from which normal exception handling practices cannot successfully recover, namely exceptions that corrupt application state. Accordingly, the system prevents the developer from catching these classes of exceptions by default unless the developer explicitly requests to have these exceptions delivered to the program code. Thus, the exception handling system encourages correct programming practices by preventing developer error by default.

Abstract: An enhanced binder provides flexibility and certainty when selecting a version of a software library to load, and an enhanced loader prevents a library version vulnerable to a security flaw from being loaded. The binder can perform unification, implicit override, and/or redirection. Implicit override searches assembly-specific locations for an implicit_version, and override the previously chosen unification or other version with the implicit_version when the implicit_version is greater. The implicit_version gets updated with the individual assembly, whereas the unification_version gets updated with the framework. Redirection may override the implicit_version. Unlike redirection, an implicit_version does not recite an explicit range and is found outside application configuration files. The implicit_version is specified implicitly by the assembly without an XML declaration.

Abstract: An enhanced binder provides flexibility and certainty when selecting a version of a software library to load, and an enhanced loader prevents a library version vulnerable to a security flaw from being loaded. The binder can perform unification, implicit override, and/or redirection. Implicit override searches assembly-specific locations for an implicit_version, and override the previously chosen unification or other version with the implicit_version when the implicit_version is greater. The implicit_version gets updated with the individual assembly, whereas the unification_version gets updated with the framework. Redirection may override the implicit_version. Unlike redirection, an implicit_version does not recite an explicit range and is found outside application configuration files. The implicit_version is specified implicitly by the assembly without an XML declaration.

Abstract: An exception handling system is described herein that provides one or more distinguished classes of software exceptions that are handled differently than other exceptions. The system treats a distinguished exception as a “hard to catch” exception that is not passed to the catch block of program code unless a developer performs extra steps to acknowledge the distinguished nature of the exception and confirm that the program code is prepared to properly handle the exception. Exceptions that fall into this class are typically those that represent conditions from which normal exception handling practices cannot successfully recover, namely exceptions that corrupt application state. Accordingly, the system prevents the developer from catching these classes of exceptions by default unless the developer explicitly requests to have these exceptions delivered to the program code. Thus, the exception handling system encourages correct programming practices by preventing developer error by default.