Is Java's Exception class a checked type?

Question

Here is an example that shows contrary behavior of Java 'Exception' class.

try {

}
catch(Exception ex) {

}

In case of checked type of exception, if we keep a catch block without any error provoking statement to that particular checked exception in try block then, compiler will raise an error like “This exception is never thrown from the try statement body”. But in above case compiler will not give any error.

On the other hand, if we raise an exception of type 'Exception' class by using throw key word, the exception will not be automatically ducked to a caller, like below:

throw new Exception();

In above case compiler gives error like "Unhandled exception type Exception".

So is Java's Exception class a checked or unchecked type?

Answer 1

Stuff you should know about Exceptions:

• Exceptions are checked, which means if declared as throws, they must be handled (caught). Roughly, these are for "non-programming errors". eg IOException
• RuntimeExceptions (a subclass of Exception) are unchecked, which means they do not need to be handled if declared, and may be thrown when not declared. Roughly, these are for "programming errors". eg NullPointerException
• Errors are unchecked, but are not Exceptions (see below). These are for "unrecoverable" errors. eg OutOfMemoryError
• Throwable is the abstract parent class of all of the above

Try this:

try {
    ....
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    ....
}

or if you are expecting both runtime and non-runtime exceptions:

try {
    ....
} catch (Throwable e) {
    ....
}