Cookbooks
Java
Chapter 5. Good Coding Practices
Handling errors

Java:
Handling errors

How to:

Java uses exceptions to handle errors. You surround risky code with a try block and catch exceptions with catch. Here’s a simple example:

public class ErrorHandlingExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            int result = divide(10, 0);
            System.out.println("Result is: " + result);
        } catch (ArithmeticException e) {
            System.out.println("Oops, can't divide by zero!");
        }
    }

    private static int divide(int numerator, int denominator) {
        return numerator / denominator;
    }
}

Output:

Oops, can't divide by zero!

Deep Dive

Error handling in Java has evolved. Early days didn’t have exceptions; programmers checked error codes. Then Java introduced try-catch blocks, allowing more elegant error handling.

Alternatives to traditional try-catch include try-with-resources for auto-closing resources and cleaner code, introduced in Java 7.

Implementation details matter. For example, catching Exception or Throwable is usually bad practice. It’s too broad, masking bugs you might not be aware of. Stick to specific exceptions.

See Also

Logging