Chapter 7 - Error Handling

• Error handling obscures code logic often making it unreadable

• Don't return error codes or error flags instead seperate your code and error handling

  • Use a try, catch

• Use a try, catch, finally

  • You must not abruptly quit your code
  • A Try, Catch, Finally defines what the user of the code should expect no matter what goes wrong

• Context

  • Provide informative error messages passed with your exception
  • Mention the operation and failure type

• Checked Exceptions are Bad

  • Exceptions that run at compile time

• Special Case Pattern

  • Get rid of error handling code
  • Instead use a class or configure an object so that it always returns something that will handle the special case for you

• Don't return null from a method

  • Too many checks to handle (IF != NULL)
    • If you miss a check you get an error

• Don't pass null to a method

  • When someone passes null as an argument we get a NullPointerException