Item 58 - Use checked exceptions for recoverable conditions and runtime exceptions for programming errors

From Effective Java 2/e by Joshua Bloch

The Java programming language provides three kinds of throwables:

1. checked exceptions
   • use checked exceptions for conditions from which the caller can reasonably be expected to recover
2. runtime exceptions (unchecked exceptions)
   • Use runtime exceptions to indicate programming errors
   • all of the unchecked throwables you implement should subclass RuntimeException
3. errors

Checked vs Unchecked Exceptions

• Checked exceptions must be explicitly caught or propagated as described in Basic try-catch-finally Exception Handling.
• Unchecked exceptions do not have this requirement. They don't have to be caught or declared thrown.
• Checked exceptions in Java extend the java.lang.Exception class.
• Unchecked exceptions extend the java.lang.RuntimeException.

Posted by The Finest Artist