Re: Java language and library suggestions

From:

Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.programmer

Date:

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:17:32 -0700

Message-ID:

<a4Kdnc9BTevjBv7XnZ2dnUVZ_qmdnZ2d@earthlink.com>

Lew wrote:

Log the exception and return gracefully.

public void Foo()
{
   try
   {
     invokeMethodThatThrowsIOE();
   }
   catch ( IOException exc )
   {
     final String msg = "IOException: "+ exc.getLocalizedMessage();
     logger.error( msg );
     return;

Patricia Shanahan wrote:

I don't like return here, because the rest of the code may be depending
on Foo having done something that has not been done. It could lead to
bad outcomes, such as the wrong thing being written to a file that
survives beyond the program run. Wouldn't a runtime exception be better?
Or even a System.exit call.

}
}

A very valid point. There are times when a return is appropriate, and
there are times when it isn't.

Often having a System.exit() is the wrong thing to do - for example, in
a web application. One has to apply situational wisdom and figure out a
way to gracefully return to a valid program state that will not disturb
the user.

Agreed. I do use System.exit in one of my programs, but it is a batch
program for which I'm the only user. In that program, once the exception
has been logged the best thing to do is to bail out as quickly, and with
as few side effects, as possible.

Patricia