2.10. Exceptions

An exception in the Java Virtual Machine is represented by an instance of the class Throwable or one of its subclasses. Throwing an exception results in an immediate nonlocal transfer of control from the point where the exception was thrown.

Most exceptions occur synchronously as a result of an action by the thread in which they occur. An asynchronous exception, by contrast, can potentially occur at any point in the execution of a program. The Java Virtual Machine throws an exception for one of three reasons:

• An athrow instruction (§athrow) was executed.

• An abnormal execution condition was synchronously detected by the Java Virtual Machine. These exceptions are not thrown at an arbitrary point in the program, but only synchronously ...

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