Java Exception Handling Best Practices Cheat Sheet
Proper exception handling is crucial for maintaining the robustness and readability of Java applications. Here are some best practices to follow:
| Best Practice | Description |
|---|---|
| Catch Specific Exceptions | Prefer catching specific exceptions over more general ones to handle errors with precision and clarity. |
| Avoid Empty Catch Blocks | Never leave a catch block empty. At minimum, log the exception to track potential issues. |
| Throw Specific Exceptions | Throw exceptions that are descriptive of the specific error condition and provide useful information to the caller. |
| Clean Up Resources in a Finally Block | Ensure that resources are released by cleaning up in a finally block, or use try-with-resources to auto-close them. |
| Don’t Suppress or Ignore Exceptions | Address every exception in an appropriate manner to avoid masking underlying problems. |
| Avoid Catching Throwable | Refrain from catching ‘Throwable’ as it will also catch ‘Error’ which is normally used to indicate serious problems that a reasonable application should not try to catch. |
| Don’t Use Exceptions for Flow Control | Exceptions should not be used to control normal flow of execution. Use conditional checks instead. |
| Document Exceptions with JavaDoc | Use JavaDoc to document the exceptions your methods can throw and the circumstances that lead to them. |
| Include Failure-Capture Information | Include information that captures the failure context in exception messages or through exception chaining. |
| Prefer Custom Exceptions | Create and use custom exception classes if you need more specific error reporting. |
| Check Exceptions for Security | Be cautious about the information you include in exceptions to avoid potential security leaks. |