Question: Exceptions in C++ don't need to be caught (no compile time errors) by the calling function. So it's up to developer's judgment whether to catch them using try/catch (unlike in Java).

Is there a way one can ensure that the exceptions thrown are always caught using try/catch by the calling function?

Answer: 
You shouldn't be using an exception here. This obviously isn't an exceptional case if you need to be expecting it everywhere you use this function!

A better solution would be to get the function to return an instance of something like this. In debug builds (assuming developers exercise code paths they've just written), they'll get an assert if they forget to check whether the operation succeded or not.

```
class SearchResult
{
  private:
    ResultType result_;
    bool succeeded_;
    bool succeessChecked_;

  public:
    SearchResult(Result& result, bool succeeded)
      : result_(result)
      , succeeded_(succeeded)
      , successChecked_(false)
    {
    }

    ~SearchResult()
    {
      ASSERT(successChecked_);
    }

    ResultType& Result() { return result_; }
    bool Succeeded() { successChecked_ = true; return succeeded_; }
}

```
Outside the scope of your question so I debated not posting this but in Java there are actually 2 types of exceptions, checked and unchecked. The basic difference is that, much like in `c[++]`, you dont have to catch an unchecked exception.

For a good reference [try this](http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/exceptions/runtime.html)