alexrp/phobos — comment on commit 4b87dcf39efeb4ddafe8fe99a0ef9a529c0dcaca
File:  line 0
By alexrp:

Yes, I did notice this trend back when I worked with C++.

However, if you look at most C# or Java applications, it's the complete opposite: People try to catch specific exceptions such that exceptions that indicate underlying problems can surface and be noticed, rather than silenced and potentially ignored. Catching everything is good in some applications, because reliability (i.e. don't crash on an unhandled exception) is very important. In others, correctness is MUCH more important (compilers, virtual machines, that sort of thing). In those cases, you want to know as soon as possible when something is wrong so you can fix it.

Now, that argument doesn't really hold water in the case of std.getopt of all things, but I do think that we need a consistent design across all of Phobos.