Exception

The representation of an unexpected situation that affects control flow.

Related concepts:  ObjectControl FlowReturn

Closest Wikipedia entry:  Exception handling — In computing and computer programming, exception handling is the process of responding to the occurrence of exceptions – anomalous or exceptional conditions requiring special processing – during the execution of a program. In general, an exception breaks the normal flow of execution and executes a pre-registered exception handler; the details of how this is done depend on whether it is a hardware or software exception and how the software exception is implemented. Exception handling, if provided, is facilitated by specialized programming language constructs, hardware mechanisms like interrupts, or operating system (OS) inter-process communication (IPC) facilities like signals.

Misconceptions about Exception

9 documented Misconceptions

AnyClassException

Any class can be an exception class

CatchAlwaysExecutes

Catch blocks always get executed

CatchProvidesOptions

Only the necessary part of a catch block executes

ExceptionRoot

Exception is the top-most exception class

NullPointerExceptionCompileTime

NullPointerExceptions are detected at compile time

RuntimeExceptionChecked

RuntimeExceptions are checked exceptions

TryCatchMandatory

If code could throw an exception, you must surround that code with a try/catch block

TryFinishes

Exceptions get thrown at the end of the try block