This document provides an overview of exception handling in Java. It discusses what exceptions are, what happens when exceptions occur, benefits of Java's exception handling framework such as separating error handling code and propagating exceptions up the call stack. It also covers catching exceptions using try-catch and finally blocks, throwing custom exceptions, the exception class hierarchy, and differences between checked and unchecked exceptions. The document concludes with a discussion of assertions.
2 Topics ● What isan Exception? ● What happens when an Exception occurs? ● Benefits of Exception Handling framework ● Catching exceptions with try-catch ● Catching exceptions with finally ● Throwing exceptions ● Rules in exception handling ● Exception class hierarchy ● Checked exception and unchecked exception ● Creating your own exception class ● Assertions
4 What is anException? ● Exceptional event ● Error that occurs during runtime ● Cause normal program flow to be disrupted ● Examples – Divide by zero errors – Accessing the elements of an array beyond its range – Invalid input – Hard disk crash – Opening a non-existent file – Heap memory exhausted
6 Example: Default Exception Handling ●Displays this error message Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero at DivByZero.main(DivByZero.java:3) ● Default exception handler – Provided by Java runtime – Prints out exception description – Prints the stack trace ● Hierarchy of methods where the exception occurred – Causes the program to terminate
8 What Happens Whenan Exception Occurs? ● When an exception occurs within a method, the method creates an exception object and hands it off to the runtime system – Creating an exception object and handing it to the runtime system is called “throwing an exception” – Exception object contains information about the error, including its type and the state of the program when the error occurred
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9 What Happens Whenan Exception Occurs? ● The runtime system searches the call stack for a method that contains an exception handler
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10 What Happens Whenan Exception Occurs? ● When an appropriate handler is found, the runtime system passes the exception to the handler – An exception handler is considered appropriate if the type of the exception object thrown matches the type that can be handled by the handler – The exception handler chosen is said to catch the exception. ● If the runtime system exhaustively searches all the methods on the call stack without finding an appropriate exception handler, the runtime system (and, consequently, the program) terminates and uses the default exception handler
13 Benefits of JavaException Handling Framework ● Separating Error-Handling code from “regular” business logic code ● Propagating errors up the call stack ● Grouping and differentiating error types
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14 Separating Error HandlingCode from Regular Code ● In traditional programming, error detection, reporting, and handling often lead to confusing spaghetti code ● Consider pseudocode method here that reads an entire file into memory readFile { open the file; determine its size; allocate that much memory; read the file into memory; close the file; }
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15 Traditional Programming: No separationof error handling code ● In traditional programming, To handle such cases, the readFile function must have more code to do error detection, reporting, and handling. errorCodeType readFile { initialize errorCode = 0; open the file; if (theFileIsOpen) { determine the length of the file; if (gotTheFileLength) { allocate that much memory; if (gotEnoughMemory) { read the file into memory; if (readFailed) { errorCode = -1; } } else { errorCode = -2; }
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16 Traditional Programming: No separationof error handling code ● } else { errorCode = -3; } close the file; if (theFileDidntClose && errorCode == 0) { errorCode = -4; } else { errorCode = errorCode and -4; } } else { errorCode = -5; } return errorCode; }
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17 Separating Error HandlingCode from Regular Code ● Exceptions enable you to write the main flow of your code and to deal with the exceptional cases elsewhere readFile { try { open the file; determine its size; allocate that much memory; read the file into memory; close the file; } catch (fileOpenFailed) { doSomething; } catch (sizeDeterminationFailed) { doSomething; } catch (memoryAllocationFailed) { doSomething; } catch (readFailed) { doSomething; } catch (fileCloseFailed) { doSomething; } }
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18 Separating Error HandlingCode from Regular Code ● Note that exceptions don't spare you the effort of doing the work of detecting, reporting, and handling errors, but they do help you organize the work more effectively.
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19 Propagating Errors Upthe Call Stack ● Suppose that the readFile method is the fourth method in a series of nested method calls made by the main program: method1 calls method2, which calls method3, which finally calls readFile ● Suppose also that method1 is the only method interested in the errors that might occur within readFile. method1 { call method2; } method2 { call method3; } method3 { call readFile; }
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20 Traditional Way ofPropagating Errors method1 { errorCodeType error; error = call method2; if (error) doErrorProcessing; else proceed; } errorCodeType method2 { errorCodeType error; error = call method3; if (error) return error; else proceed; } errorCodeType method3 { errorCodeType error; error = call readFile; if (error) return error; else proceed; ● Traditional error- notification techniques force method2 and method3 to propagate the error codes returned by readFile up the call stack until the error codes finally reach method1—the only method that is interested in them.
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21 Using Java ExceptionHandling method1 { try { call method2; } catch (exception e) { doErrorProcessing; } } method2 throws exception { call method3; } method3 throws exception { call readFile; } ● A method can duck any exceptions thrown within it, thereby allowing a method farther up the call stack to catch it. Hence, only the methods that care about errors have to worry about detecting errors ● Any checked exceptions that can be thrown within a method must be specified in its throws clause.
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22 Grouping and DifferentiatingError Types ● Because all exceptions thrown within a program are objects, the grouping or categorizing of exceptions is a natural outcome of the class hierarchy ● An example of a group of related exception classes in the Java platform are those defined in java.io — IOException and its descendants – IOException is the most general and represents any type of error that can occur when performing I/O – Its descendants represent more specific errors. For example, FileNotFoundException means that a file could not be located on disk.
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23 Grouping and DifferentiatingError Types ● A method can write specific handlers that can handle a very specific exception ● The FileNotFoundException class has no descendants, so the following handler can handle only one type of exception. catch (FileNotFoundException e) { ... }
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24 Grouping and DifferentiatingError Types ● A method can catch an exception based on its group or general type by specifying any of the exception's superclasses in the catch statement. For example, to catch all I/O exceptions, regardless of their specific type, an exception handler specifies an IOException argument. // Catch all I/O exceptions, including // FileNotFoundException, EOFException, and so on. catch (IOException e) { ... }
34 Catching Exceptions: The finallyKeyword ● Syntax: try { <code to be monitored for exceptions> } catch (<ExceptionType1> <ObjName>) { <handler if ExceptionType1 occurs> } ... } finally { <code to be executed before the try block ends> } ● Contains the code for cleaning up after a try or a catch
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35 Catching Exceptions: The finallyKeyword ● Block of code is always executed despite of different scenarios: – Forced exit occurs using a return, a continue or a break statement – Normal completion – Caught exception thrown ● Exception was thrown and caught in the method – Uncaught exception thrown ● Exception thrown was not specified in any catch block in the method
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36 Catching Exceptions: The finallyKeyword 1 class FinallyDemo { 2 static void myMethod(int n) throws Exception{ 3 try { 4 switch(n) { 5 case 1: System.out.println("1st case"); 6 return; 7 case 3: System.out.println("3rd case"); 8 throw new RuntimeException("3!"); 9 case 4: System.out.println("4th case"); 10 throw new Exception("4!"); 11 case 2: System.out.println("2nd case"); 12 } 13 //continued...
40 Throwing Exceptions: The throwKeyword ● Java allows you to throw exceptions (generate exceptions) throw <exception object>; ● An exception you throw is an object – You have to create an exception object in the same way you create any other object ● Example: throw new ArithmeticException(“testing...”);
43 Rules on Exceptions ●A method is required to either catch or list all exceptions it might throw – Except for Error or RuntimeException, or their subclasses ● If a method may cause an exception to occur but does not catch it, then it must say so using the throws keyword – Applies to checked exceptions only ● Syntax: <type> <methodName> (<parameterList>) throws <exceptionList> { <methodBody> }
46 The Error andException Classes ● Throwable class – Root class of exception classes – Immediate subclasses ● Error ● Exception ● Exception class – Conditions that user programs can reasonably deal with – Usually the result of some flaws in the user program code – Examples ● Division by zero error ● Array out-of-bounds error
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47 The Error andException Classes ● Error class – Used by the Java run-time system to handle errors occurring in the run-time environment – Generally beyond the control of user programs – Examples ● Out of memory errors ● Hard disk crash
51 Checked and Unchecked Exceptions ●Checked exception – Java compiler checks if the program either catches or lists the occurring checked exception – If not, compiler error will occur ● Unchecked exceptions – Not subject to compile-time checking for exception handling – Built-in unchecked exception classes ● Error ● RuntimeException ● Their subclasses – Handling all these exceptions may make the program cluttered and may become a nuisance
53 Creating Your OwnException Class ● Steps to follow – Create a class that extends the RuntimeException or the Exception class – Customize the class ● Members and constructors may be added to the class ● Example: 1 class HateStringExp extends RuntimeException { 2 /* some code */ 3 }
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54 How To UseYour Own Exceptions 1 class TestHateString { 2 public static void main(String args[]) { 3 String input = "invalid input"; 4 try { 5 if (input.equals("invalid input")) { 6 throw new HateStringExp(); 7 } 8 System.out.println("Accept string."); 9 } catch (HateStringExp e) { 10 System.out.println("Hate string!”); 11 } 12 } 13 }
56 What are Assertions? ●Allow the programmer to find out if an assumption was met – Example: month ● Extension of comments wherein the assert statement informs the person reading the code that a particular condition should always be satisfied – Running the program informs you if assertions made are true or not – If an assertion is not true, an AssertionError is thrown ● User has the option to turn it off or on at runtime
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57 Enabling or DisablingAssertions ● Program with assertions may not work properly if used by clients not aware that assertions were used in the code ● Compiling – With assertion feature: javac –source 1.4 MyProgram.java – Without the assertion feature: javac MyProgram.java ● Enabling assertions: – Use the –enableassertions or –ea switch. java –enableassertions MyProgram
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58 Assert Syntax ● Twoforms: – Simpler form: assert <expression1>; where ● <expression1> is the condition asserted to be true – Other form: assert <expression1> : <expression2>; where ● <expression1> is the condition asserted to be true ● <expression2> is some information helpful in diagnosing why the statement failed
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59 Assert Syntax 1 classAgeAssert { 2 public static void main(String args[]) { 3 int age = Integer.parseInt(args[0]); 4 assert(age>0); 5 /* if age is valid (i.e., age>0) */ 6 if (age >= 18) { 7 System.out.println(“You're an adult! =)”); 8 } 9 } 10 }