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Understanding Java Exceptions and Errors: The Key to Acing Your Tech Interview
Have you ever found yourself in a technical interview, sweating bullets, worrying about whether your knowledge in Java is enough to score that dream job? I have. It was all going great until I was asked to explain the difference between an Exception
and an Error
in Java. Despite years of programming, I fumbled. Why? Because I assumed they were more or less the same. Spoiler alert: they are not. This mix-up cost me an opportunity. So let’s take a deep dive into Java's Exception
and Error
classes and arm you with the understanding you need so you don’t make the same mistake.
Java Basics: The Throwable Family Tree
In Java, both Exception
and Error
are children of the Throwable
class, which means they can both be thrown and caught. However, these two have distinct roles and are used differently in applications.
The Exception Class
Most of the issues your code will bump into are exceptions. These are issues that your program can catch and deal with, like trying to read a file that doesn’t exist or parsing a string into a number when it’s not possible. Exceptions can be spotted during compile time or runtime and are meant to be handled by the programmer.