Why are exceptions so rarely used in C

Question

I've been writing in C++ on and off for roughly 5 years; why have I never seen exceptions used for anything other than examples?

Answer 1

C++ code is used extensively in system programming and embedded systems.

(After all, C++ is simply one of many possibilities for application programming, and many of the others have slicker RAD environments, but in systems work, it's typically by far the highest level language for which a compiler is available.)

Furthermore, most embedded systems, as well as a large portion of system development labour, contain limits that exclude exceptions.

If you prefer to look for this type of code because of your concentration, it's completely conceivable that the C++ code you've encountered doesn't utilise exceptions.

That isn't to say that there isn't C++ code that uses exceptions; there is, and there is a lot of it.

It may just not occur in code written to address issues of relevance to you.