diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 54b124c..3ec158c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,13 +15,11 @@ else(READLINE_LIBRARY)
     SET (READLINE_FLAG )
 endif(READLINE_LIBRARY)
 
-#SET (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE rel)
 SET (CMAKE_C_FLAGS_REL " -Wall -O3 ${READLINE_FLAG}")
 SET (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_REL " -Wall -O3 ${READLINE_FLAG}")
 
-#SET (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE gdb)
-SET (CMAKE_C_FLAGS_GDB " -Wall -ggdb ${READLINE_FLAG}")
-SET (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_GDB " -Wall -ggdb ${READLINE_FLAG}")
+SET (CMAKE_C_FLAGS " -Wall -ggdb ${READLINE_FLAG}")
+SET (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS " -Wall -ggdb ${READLINE_FLAG}")
 
 include_directories(include)
  
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/chaiscript.hpp b/include/chaiscript/chaiscript.hpp
index 8579e56..b5ed774 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/chaiscript.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/chaiscript.hpp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ namespace chaiscript
     class Token_Type { public: enum Type { Error, Int, Float, Id, Char, Str, Eol, Fun_Call, Inplace_Fun_Call, Arg_List, Variable, Equation, Var_Decl,
         Expression, Comparison, Additive, Multiplicative, Negate, Not, Array_Call, Dot_Access, Quoted_String, Single_Quoted_String,
         Lambda, Block, Def, While, If, For, Inline_Array, Inline_Map, Return, File, Prefix, Break, Map_Pair, Value_Range,
-        Inline_Range, Annotation }; };
+        Inline_Range, Annotation, Try }; };
 
     /**
      * Helper lookup to get the name of each node type
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ namespace chaiscript
         const char *token_types[] = { "Internal Parser Error", "Int", "Float", "Id", "Char", "Str", "Eol", "Fun_Call", "Inplace_Fun_Call", "Arg_List", "Variable", "Equation", "Var_Decl",
             "Expression", "Comparison", "Additive", "Multiplicative", "Negate", "Not", "Array_Call", "Dot_Access", "Quoted_String", "Single_Quoted_String",
             "Lambda", "Block", "Def", "While", "If", "For", "Inline_Array", "Inline_Map", "Return", "File", "Prefix", "Break", "Map_Pair", "Value_Range",
-            "Inline_Range", "Annotation"};
+            "Inline_Range", "Annotation", "Try"};
 
         return token_types[tokentype];
     }
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/bootstrap.hpp b/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/bootstrap.hpp
index 7c64668..95afb03 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/bootstrap.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/bootstrap.hpp
@@ -638,12 +638,21 @@ namespace chaiscript
         return Boxed_Value(f->call_match(std::vector<Boxed_Value>(params.begin() + 1, params.end())));
       }
 
+      static void throw_exception(const Boxed_Value &bv) {
+        throw bv;
+      }
+      
       static boost::shared_ptr<Dispatch_Engine> bootstrap2(boost::shared_ptr<Dispatch_Engine> e = boost::shared_ptr<Dispatch_Engine> (new Dispatch_Engine()))
       {
         e->add(user_type<void>(), "void");
         return e;
       }
 
+      static std::string what(const std::exception &e)
+      {
+        return e.what();
+      }
+
     public:
       /**
       * perform all common bootstrap functions for std::string, void and POD types
@@ -655,6 +664,7 @@ namespace chaiscript
         m->add(user_type<Boxed_Value>(), "Object");
         m->add(user_type<Boxed_POD_Value>(), "PODObject");
         m->add(user_type<Proxy_Function>(), "function");
+        m->add(user_type<std::exception>(), "exception");
 
         basic_constructors<bool>("bool", m);
         oper_assign<std::string>(m);
@@ -663,6 +673,7 @@ namespace chaiscript
         m->add(fun(&to_string<const std::string &>), "internal_to_string");
         m->add(fun(&to_string<bool>), "internal_to_string");
         m->add(fun(&unknown_assign), "=");
+        m->add(fun(&throw_exception), "throw");
 
         bootstrap_pod_type<double>("double", m);
         bootstrap_pod_type<int>("int", m);
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
index bde105b..04e600c 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
@@ -579,6 +579,40 @@ namespace chaiscript
         return retval;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Evaluates an if/elseif/else block
+     */
+    template <typename Eval_System>
+    Boxed_Value eval_try(Eval_System &ss, const TokenPtr &node) {
+        Boxed_Value retval;        
+        retval = Boxed_Value();
+
+        ss.new_scope();
+        try {
+            retval = eval_token(ss, node->children[0]);
+        }
+        catch (std::exception &) {
+            // nothing
+            std::cout << "DEBUG: std::exception caught" << std::endl;
+        }
+        catch (Boxed_Value &bv) {
+            if (node->children.size() > 2) {
+                if (node->children[1]->text == "catch") {
+                    if (node->children.size() > 3) {
+                        ss.add_object(node->children[2]->text, bv);
+                        retval = eval_token(ss, node->children[3]);
+                    }
+                    else {
+                        retval = eval_token(ss, node->children[2]);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        ss.pop_scope();
+
+        return retval;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Evaluates an if/elseif/else block
      */
@@ -924,6 +958,10 @@ namespace chaiscript
                 return eval_dot_access(ss, node);
             break;
 
+            case(Token_Type::Try) :
+                return eval_try(ss, node);
+            break;
+
             case(Token_Type::If) :
                 return eval_if(ss, node);
             break;
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
index 69e6dc1..dcbb5f0 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
@@ -916,6 +916,60 @@ namespace chaiscript
             return retval;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Reads a function definition from input
+         */
+        bool Try() {
+            bool retval = false;
+            bool is_annotated = false;
+
+            TokenPtr annotation;
+
+            if (Annotation()) {
+                while (Eol_());
+                annotation = match_stack.back();
+                match_stack.pop_back();
+                is_annotated = true;
+            }
+
+            int prev_stack_top = match_stack.size();
+
+            if (Keyword("try")) {
+                retval = true;
+
+                while (Eol());
+
+                if (!Block()) {
+                    throw Eval_Error("Incomplete 'try' block", File_Position(line, col), filename);
+                }
+
+                bool has_matches = true;
+                while (has_matches) {
+                    while (Eol());
+                    has_matches = false;
+                    if (Keyword("catch", true)) {
+                        if (Char('(')) {
+                            if (!(Id(true) && Char(')'))) {
+                                throw Eval_Error("Incomplete 'catch' expression", File_Position(line, col), filename);
+                            }
+                        }
+
+                        while (Eol());
+
+                        if (!Block()) {
+                            throw Eval_Error("Incomplete 'catch' block", File_Position(line, col), filename);
+                        }
+                        
+                        has_matches = true;
+                    }
+                }
+
+                build_match(Token_Type::Try, prev_stack_top);
+            }
+
+            return retval;
+        }
+
         /**
          * Reads an if/elseif/else block from input
          */
@@ -1550,6 +1604,14 @@ namespace chaiscript
                     retval = true;
                     saw_eol = true;
                 }
+                else if (Try()) {
+                    if (!saw_eol) {
+                        throw Eval_Error("Two function definitions missing line separator", match_stack.back());
+                    }
+                    has_more = true;
+                    retval = true;
+                    saw_eol = true;
+                }
                 else if (If()) {
                     if (!saw_eol) {
                         throw Eval_Error("Two function definitions missing line separator", match_stack.back());