what is exception handling in java

Exception handling is a mechanism in Java to handle runtime errors such as ClassNotFoundException, IOException, SQLException, RemoteException, etc. . It is a powerful mechanism that helps maintain the normal flow of the application by handling exceptions that disrupt the normal flow of the program. An exception is an unwanted or unexpected event that occurs during the execution of a program, i.e., at runtime, that disrupts the normal flow of the programs instructions. Java creates an exception object when an error occurs while executing a statement. The exception object contains a lot of debugging information such as method hierarchy, line number where the exception occurred, and type of exception. If an exception occurs in a method, the process of creating the exception object and handing it over to the runtime environment is called "throwing the exception". The normal flow of the program halts, and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) tries to find the handler for the exception. The block of code that can process the exception object is called the exception handler. Java provides specific keywords for exception handling purposes, such as try, catch, and finally blocks. The try block contains the code that might throw an exception, and the catch block contains the code that handles the exception. The finally block contains the code that is executed regardless of whether an exception is thrown or not. In general, exceptions should be thrown when an error occurs, and they should be caught when the error can be handled and the program can continue to run normally.