Why can’t I catch a generic exception in C#?

Question

Bizarre behavior here…

VS2k8 console app. The following:

try
{
    throw new T();
}
catch (T tex)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Caught passed in exception type");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Caught general exception");
}

results in “Caught general exception”.

But, remove the (useless) variables from the catch statements:

try
{
    throw new T();
}
catch (T)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Caught passed in exception type");
}
catch (Exception)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Caught general exception");
}

results in “Caught passed in exception type”!!!

Update:

Heheh… Its a bug: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=362422&wa=wsignin1.0

Source? Here. Why does catch(TException) handling block behaviour differ under the debugger after installing Visual Studio 2008?

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