[Caml-list] Performance penalty of exception handling

[Helmut Brandl <helmut.brandl@gmx.net>]

Hi all,

I use exeption handling quite frequently even in inner loops. A common 
pattern:

     let some_function ... =
             ...
            if cannot_compute then raise Not_found else value

     try
         let value = some_function ... in
         ...
     with Not_found ->
        handle_exception

I use this pattern even if the direct caller of "some_function" handles 
the exception. In many cases I could design "some_function" in a way 
that it returns an optional value and check the optional value in the 
caller. Is this significantly (at least 10%) faster? If not, I would 
stay with my present design. However I am pressed for performance in the 
inner loops (I am only interested in compilation to native).

Is there any information available on the preformance penalty of 
exception handling? Any hints? Thanks in advance.

Regards
Helmut