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. Exceptions are defined by different layers of a computer system, and the typical layers are CPU-defined interrupts, operating system (OS)-defined signals, programming language-defined exceptions.

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