I agree 100 pct. And once more argument against Microsoft philosophy:
the costs are huge and a benefit is practically none. I can write a letter
with a VDE or similar one (about 80k) in a flush and I don't need the
bells and whistles of Word. I do not want to replace my PC if a new
Windows come out. I have no Windows and I won't. I can't cope with such
messages: General Protection Fault
or
        There is something wrong with your program maybe your data...
This a big sh*t!
I remain also in DOS/Linux world and I feel here home. I think there is a
quality of software which counts: RELIABILITY - it means also the program
need to be armed against all possible situations. You as developer must
always ask yourself: what does my program if that and that happens, even
if this constellation seems for me very unrealistic (but technically
possible!). Never leave your program in an undeterminated state. I realize
to handle all possible exceptions as about four times more program code
than the function itself - but it is a price for a reliable program and I
am ready to pay this price. On the other hand the exception handling must
be as informative as possible; I'll never say "Syntax error" but at least
"Syntax error processing line xxx".
Of course, a PIC a bit more complicated. I learned to use at most an error
bit with a LED; some glitches can be informative. Or, if you have enough
code space, can use a serial output, where you send a code if you think
there is something worth to send. I built for this a small pocket terminal
with two digits display - it can help in most situation; of course this
terminal uses also a PIC.

Maybe it is not so OT as it seems?

Imre