The different kinds of exceptions

Checked exceptions must be handled at compile time. Runtime exceptions do not need to be. Errors often cannot be.

The Throwable class hierarchy 


java.lang.Object
   |
   +----java.lang.Throwable
           |
           +----java.lang.Error
           |
           +----java.lang.Exception
                   |
                   +----java.io.IOException
                   |
                   +----java.lang.RuntimeException
                           |
                           +----java.lang.ArithmeticException
                           |
                           +----java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
                           |
                           +----java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
                           |
                           +----java.lang.NumberFormatException
Almost all the code is in the java.lang.Throwable class. Almost all of its subclasses only provide new constructors that change the message of the exception.

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Last Modified June 8, 1999
Copyright 1999 Elliotte Rusty Harold
elharo@metalab.unc.edu