CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javacompilationcompiler-errors
aviad
aviad

Reputation: 8278

Why does the following java statement compile successfully?

I wonder why it makes sense to have an empty try block followed by catching specific exception? Any thoughts?

try {

} catch (Exception e) {
    // do nothing
}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 360

Answers (3)

Alexander Galkin
Alexander Galkin

Reputation: 12524

Not everything that compiles should "make sense", as long as your code does not contain syntax and semantic errors it will compile and most likely even run.

The main idea is that every part of your code can potentially throw an exception. Try Catch blocks do not add an additional overhead to your compiled code and thus there is no problem using them even for any code.

Upvotes: 2

necromancer
necromancer

Reputation: 24641

runtime exceptions are not type-checked and can be unpredictably thrown

Upvotes: 2

Jon Skeet
Jon Skeet

Reputation: 1499760

The idea is that unchecked exceptions can be thrown by any code, so if you're catching something which can catch an unchecked exception, the compiler doesn't check whether the code in the try block can throw anything. In the special case where there really is no code in the try block, this is inappropriate - but it keeps the language simpler, and it's only a problem in completely bogus code which I wouldn't expect to show up in any real codebase. I guess there are similar situations where you're only doing things with primitives etc, but it really is an edge case. Most try blocks will contain code which could theoreically throw an unchecked exception.

If you try to catch a checked exception type which isn't thrown in the try block, then the compiler will complain.

Upvotes: 7

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