[cobrausn]

Though we probably learned this is not the way to use them, I have seen numerous real-world examples where this was the case.

Not only that, I don't think C++ exceptions are necessarily very good at being a 'last barrier' before a crash - they simply can't catch all the errors, because they are good at indicating conditions that might be recoverable, not catching and recovering from logic errors that would cause a crash. There are plenty of ways to hang yourself in C++ without ever throwing an exception.

[figglesonrails]

"Though we probably learned this is not the way to use them, I have seen numerous real-world examples where this was the case."

Ah, Java code at my workplace.

   catch(Exception e) {}

[LoneWolf]

I believe you mean catch(Throwable t) {}