Java™ How to Program, Seventh Edition

13.2. Exception-Handling Overview

Programs frequently test conditions to determine how program execution should proceed. Consider the following pseudocode:

Perform a task

If the preceding task did not execute correctly
     Perform error processing

Perform next task

If the preceding task did not execute correctly
     Perform error processing

...

In this pseudocode, we begin by performing a task; then we test whether that task executed correctly. If not, we perform error processing. Otherwise, we continue with the next task. Although this form of error handling works, intermixing program logic with error-handling logic can make programs difficult to read, modify, maintain and debug—especially in large applications.

Performance Tip 13.1

If the potential ...