Chapter 11

Exception Handling: A Deeper Look

Java How to Program, 11/e
Questions? E-mail [email protected]

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Introduction
 Exception handling
 Exception—an indication of a problem that occurs during a
program’s execution.
◦ The name “exception” implies that the problem occurs
infrequently.
 Withexception handling, a program can continue executing
(rather than terminating) after dealing with a problem.
◦ Mission-critical or business-critical computing.
◦ Robust and fault-tolerant programs (i.e., programs that can deal
with problems as they arise and continue executing).

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Exception extends Throwable
 Only classes that extend Throwable (package java.lang) directly
or indirectly can be used with exception handling.
 Only classes that extend Throwable can be thrown

throw new IllegalArgumentException(“Bad argument”);

 Most programs contain exception handling
try {
// Program code
} catch (Exception e) {
// Error handling
}

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Common Java Runtime Exceptions
 ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException occurs when an attempt is
made to access an element past either end of an array.
 ArithmeticException occurs when “divide by zero” happens.
 ClassCastException occurs when an attempt is made to cast an
object that does not have an is-a relationship with the type specified in
the cast operator.
 NoSuchElementException occurs when next method is called but
there is no next element such as Scanner when input is closed.
 NullPointerException occurs when a null reference is used
where an object is expected.
 ClassNotFoundException occurs when the class loader cannot
find the class.
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Additional Exceptions
 InputMismatchException occurs when Scanner tries to input a
value of the wrong type such as an alphabetic character for
nextInt().
 InterruptedException occurs in a thread when sleep, wait or

other event occurs that stops the thread.

 IOException is the root of all I/O exceptions such as

EOFException, SSLException, SocketException,

InterruptedIOException, MalformedURLException,
UnknownHostException are among the most common.
 NumberFormatException occurs when a String cannot be

converted to number.
 SQLException,PatternSyntaxException
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Example: Divide by Zero without Exception Handling
 Exceptions are thrown (i.e., the exception occurs) by a method detects
a problem and is unable to handle it.
 Stack trace—information displayed when an exception occurs and is
not handled.
 Information includes:
◦ The name of the exception in a descriptive message that indicates the problem
that occurred
◦ The method-call stack (i.e., the call chain) at the time it occurred. Represents the
path of execution that led to the exception method by method.
 This information helps you debug the program.

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Example: Divide by Zero without Exception Handling
(Cont.)
 Java does not allow division by zero in integer arithmetic.
◦ Throws an ArithmeticException.
◦ Can arise from a several problems, so an error message (e.g., “/ by zero”) provides more
specific information.
 Java does allow division by zero with floating-point values.
◦ Such a calculation results in the value positive or negative infinity
◦ Floating-point value that displays as Infinity or -Infinity.
◦ If 0.0 is divided by 0.0, the result is NaN (not a number), which is represented as a
floating-point value that displays as NaN.

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InputMismatchException
 An InputMismatchException occurs when Scanner method
nextInt receives a String that does not represent a valid integer.
 Prior examples that input numeric values assumed that the user

would input a proper integer value.

 Users sometimes make mistakes and input non-integer values.
 If a stack trace contains “Unknown Source” for a particular method,

the debugging symbols for that method’s class were not available to
the JVM—this is typically the case for the classes of the Java API.

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Example: InputMismatchException
 Last line of the stack trace started the call chain.
 Each line contains the class name and method followed by the

filename and line number.

 The top row of the call chain indicates the throw point—the initial

point at which the exception occurred.

Exception in thread "main" java.util.InputMismatchException
at java.util.Scanner.throwFor(Scanner.java:864)
at java.util.Scanner.next(Scanner.java:1485)
at java.util.Scanner.nextInt(Scanner.java:2117)
at java.util.Scanner.nextInt(Scanner.java:2076)
at exceptions.ExceptionTesting.main(ExceptionTesting.java:16)
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Handling ArithmeticExceptions and
InputMismatchExceptions
 The application in Fig. 11.2 uses exception handling to process any
ArithmeticExceptions and InputMistmatchExceptions
that arise.
 Best to avoid InputMismatchExceptions using hasNext()

methods.
◦ But if not, use a try/catch to handle the exception
◦ input.next() OR input.nextLine();
 If the user makes a mistake, the program catches and handles (i.e.,
deals with) the exception—in this case, allowing the user to try to
enter the input.

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Try block
 try block encloses
◦ code that might throw an exception
◦ code that should not execute if an exception occurs.
 Consists of the keyword try followed by a block of code enclosed in

curly braces. Must be followed by either a catch or finally

try {
// Code that performs application functions
} catch (Exception e) {
// Code that handles an exception
}

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Catch block
 catch block (also called a catch clause or exception handler) catches
and handles an exception.
◦ Begins with the keyword catch followed by an exception parameter in
parentheses and a block of code enclosed in curly braces.
 At least one catch block or a finally block (Section 11.6) must
immediately follow the try block.
 The exception parameter identifies the exception type the handler can

process.
◦ The parameter’s name enables the catch block to interact with a caught
exception object.

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Report the exception and handle it if possible
 When an exception occurs in a try block, there can be multiple catch
blocks.
 The catch block that executes is the first one whose type matches the

type of the exception that occurred.

 Use the System.err (standard error stream) object to output error

messages.
◦ By default, displays data to the command prompt.

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Multi-catch feature introduced in Java SE 7
Multi-catch
 If the bodies of several catch blocks are identical, you can use the
multi-catch feature (introduced in Java SE 7) to catch those
exception types in a single catch handler and perform the same
task.
 The syntax for a multi-catch is:
 catch (Type1 | Type2 | Type3 e)
 Each exception type is separated from the next with a vertical bar (|).
 The preceding line of code indicates that any of the types (or their
subclasses) can be caught in the exception handler.
 Any number of Throwable types can be specified in a multi-catch.

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Uncaught Exceptions in multithreaded Java Applications
 Uncaught exception—one for which there are no matching catch
blocks.
 Recall that previous uncaught exceptions caused the application to
terminate early.
◦ This does not always occur as a result of uncaught exceptions.
 Java uses a multithreaded model of program execution.
◦ Each thread is a concurrent activity.
◦ One program can have many threads.
◦ If a program has only one thread, an uncaught exception will cause the
program to terminate.
◦ If a program has multiple threads, an uncaught exception will terminate only
the thread in which the exception occurred.

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Exceptions in try block
 If an exception occurs in a try block, the try block terminates
immediately and program control transfers to the first matching
catch block.
 After the exception is handled, control resumes after the last catch

block.
 Known as the termination model of exception handling.

◦ Some languages use the resumption model of exception handling, in which, after
an exception is handled, control resumes just after the throw point.
 Termination model is like a go-to, when handling is done, it exits the try/catch.
 Resumption model is like a function call, when handling is done, it returns.

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Try Statement
 If no exceptions are thrown in a try block, the catch blocks are
skipped and control continues with the first statement after the catch
blocks
◦ We’ll learn about another possibility when we discuss the finally block in
Section 11.6.
 The try block and its corresponding catch and/or finally blocks
form a try statement.

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Only One Catch block Executes
 When a try block terminates, local variables declared in the block go
out of scope.
◦ The local variables of a try block are not accessible in the corresponding catch
blocks.
 When a catch block terminates, local variables declared within the
catch block (including the exception parameter) also go out of scope.
 Any remaining catch blocks in the try statement are ignored, and
execution resumes at the first line of code after the try…catch
sequence.
◦ Or in the finally block, if it is present.
◦ The finally block executes regardless.

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A throws clause in a Method
 throws clause—specifies the exceptions a method might throw if
problems occur.
◦ Must appear after the method’s parameter list and before the body.
◦ Contains a comma-separated list of the exception types.
 May be thrown by statements in the method’s body or by methods called
from there.
◦ Clients of a method with a throws clause are thus informed that the method
might throw exceptions.
◦ Clients must catch exceptions that are part of throws clauses.

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When to Use Exception Handling
 Exception handling is designed to process synchronous errors, which
occur when a statement executes.
 Common examples in this book:

◦ out-of-range array indices

◦ arithmetic overflow
◦ division by zero
◦ invalid method parameters
◦ thread interruption

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When to Use Exception Handling (Cont.)
 Exception handling is not designed to process problems associated
with asynchronous events
◦ disk I/O completions
◦ network message arrivals
◦ mouse clicks and keystrokes

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Java Exception Hierarchy
 Exception classes inherit directly or indirectly from class Exception,
forming an inheritance hierarchy.
◦ Can extend this hierarchy with your own exception classes.
 Figure 11.3 shows a small portion of the inheritance hierarchy for class
Throwable (a subclass of Object), which is the superclass of class
Exception.
◦ Only Throwable objects can be used with the exception-handling mechanism.
 Class Throwable has two subclasses: Exception and Error.

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Java Exception Hierarchy (Cont.)
 ClassException and its subclasses represent exceptional
situations that can occur in a Java program
◦ These can be caught and handled by the application.
 ClassError and its subclasses represent abnormal
situations that happen in the JVM.
◦ Errors happen infrequently.
◦ These should not be caught by applications.
◦ Applications usually cannot recover from Errors.

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Checked exceptions vs. unchecked exceptions.
 All java.lang.RuntimeException and subclasses are
unchecked exceptions.
 Unchecked exceptions are typically caused by defects in the code,
e.g.:
◦ ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsExceptions
◦ ArithmeticExceptions
◦ Caused by conditions that are not in the control of the program
—e.g., in file processing, the program can’t open a file if it does
not exist.
 Subclasses of Exception but not RuntimeException are
checked exceptions.
 Compiler enforces a catch-or-declare requirement for checked
exceptions. These require either
◦ try / catch block
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Unhandled Checked Exceptions are a Compiler Error
 The compiler checks the method declarations to see if a checked
method is thrown
◦ If so, the compiler verifies that the checked exception is caught or is declared in a
throws clause—this is known as the catch-or-declare requirement.
 try / catch handles exceptions that are thrown
◦ the code that generates the exception must be wrapped in a try block and must provide
a catch handler for the checked-exception type (or one of its superclasses).
 throws clause specifies the exceptions a method throws.
◦ the code that generates the exception is in a method that has a throws clause. A throws
clause declares the exception
 If the catch-or-declare requirement is not satisfied, the compiler will issue an
error message.
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Java Exception Hierarchy (Cont.)
 To satisfy the catch part of the catch-or-declare requirement, the
code that generates the exception must be wrapped in a try
block and must provide a catch handler for the checked-
exception type (or one of its superclasses).
 To satisfy the declare part of the catch-or-declare requirement,

the method must provide a throws clause containing the

checked-exception type after its parameter list and before its
method body.
 If the catch-or-declare requirement is not satisfied, the compiler

will issue an error message.

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Subclass methods and exceptions
 An overridden subclass method cannot list more exceptions in the
throws clause than the superclass method.
 An overridden subclass method can list fewer exceptions in the

throws clause than the superclass method.

 A method that calls another method with a throws clause should

catch the listed exceptions or declare them.

 It is better to catch an exception in the overridden method than to

declare (throws) it.

 Remember, checked exceptions are usually recoverable. That is why

the program should catch them.

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No compiler error for unchecked Exceptions.
 The compiler does not examine the code to determine whether an
unchecked exception is caught or declared.
◦ These typically can be prevented by proper coding.
◦ For example, an ArithmeticException can be avoided if a method ensures
that the denominator is not zero before performing.
 Unchecked exceptions are not required to be listed in a method’s
throws clause.
◦ Even if they are, it’s not required that such exceptions be caught by an
application.
 Either check the input to functions or catch the possible runtime
exceptions. E.g. NumberFormatException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

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Catching Exception superclass catches all subclasses
 If a catch handler is written to catch superclass exception
objects, it can also catch all objects of that class’s subclasses.
 This enables catch to handle related exceptions polymorphically.
 You can catch each subclass individually if those exceptions

require different processing.

 If multiple catch blocks match a particular exception type, only

the first matching catch block executes.

 It’s a compilation error to catch the exact same type in two

different catch blocks associated with a particular try block.

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finally Block to avoid resource leaks
 Programs that obtain certain resources must return them to the
system to avoid so-called resource leaks.
 In C and C++, the most common resource leak is a memory leak.
 Java’s garbage collection avoids such leaks most of the time.
 However, other types of resource leaks can occur.
 Files, database connections and network connections that are not closed
properly might not be available for use in other programs.
 Most systems impose limits on open files, database connections and
network connections.

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finally Block (Cont.)
 finally block will execute whether or not an exception is
thrown in the corresponding try block.
 finally block will execute if a try block exits by using a

return, break or continue statement or simply by

reaching its closing right brace.
 finally block will not execute if the application exits early

from a try block by calling method System.exit.

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finally Block (Cont.)
 If an exception that occurs in a try block cannot be caught by one of
that try block’s catch handlers, control proceeds to the finally
block.
 Then the program passes the exception to the next outer try block
—normally in the calling method—where an associated catch
block might catch it.
◦ This process can occur through many levels of try blocks.
◦ The exception could go uncaught.
 If a catch block throws an exception, the finally block still
executes.
◦ Then the exception is passed to the next outer try block—again, normally in
the calling method.

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finally Block (Cont.)
 Because a finally block always executes, it typically contains
resource-release code.
 Suppose a resource is allocated in a try block.
◦ If no exception occurs, control proceeds to the finally block, which frees
the resource. Control then proceeds to the first statement after the finally
block.
◦ If an exception occurs, the try block terminates. The program catches and
processes the exception in one of the corresponding catch blocks, then the
finally block releases the resource and control proceeds to the first
statement after the finally block.
◦ If the program doesn’t catch the exception, the finally block still releases
the resource and an attempt is made to catch the exception in a calling
method.

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Rethrow an exception
 Rethrow an exception
◦ Done when a catch block, cannot process that exception or can only partially
process it.
◦ Defers the exception handling (or perhaps a portion of it) to another catch
block associated with an outer try statement.
 Rethrow by using the throw keyword, followed by a reference to the
exception object that was just caught.
 When a rethrow occurs, the next enclosing try block detects the

exception, and that try block’s catch blocks attempt to handle it.

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Throwing an exception from finally
 If an exception has not been caught when control enters the finally
block, and the finally block throws an exception that forces it to exit,
the previously uncaught exception will be lost and only the new
exception will be returned to the calling method.

 Avoid throwing exceptions from a finally block. If a method throws an

exception, handle it in the finally block.

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Stack Unwinding and Obtaining Information from an
Exception Object
 Stack unwinding—When an exception is thrown but not caught in a
particular scope, the method-call stack is “unwound”
 An attempt is made to catch the exception in the next outer try
block.
 All local variables in the unwound method go out of scope and
control returns to the statement that originally invoked that method.
 If a try block encloses that statement, an attempt is made to catch
the exception.
 If a try block does not enclose that statement or if the exception is
not caught, stack unwinding occurs again.

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Stack Unwinding and Obtaining Information from an
Exception Object (cont.)
 Throwable methods printStackTrace and getStackTrace
each process the entire method-call stack
 When debugging, this can be inefficient
 you may be interested only in stack frames corresponding to
methods of a specific class
 Java SE 9 introduces the Stack-Walking API (class StackWalker in
package java.lang), which uses lambdas and streams (Chapter 17) to
access method-call-stack information in a more efficient manner
 Learn more about this API at: http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/259

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Chained Exceptions
 Sometimes a method responds to an exception by throwing a
different exception type that is specific to the current application.
 If a catch block throws a new exception, the original exception’s
information and stack trace are lost.
 Earlier Java versions provided no mechanism to wrap the original
exception information with the new exception’s information.
◦ This made debugging such problems particularly difficult.
 Chained exceptions enable an exception object to maintain the
complete stack-trace information from the original exception.
 For any chained exception, you can get the Throwable that initially
caused that exception by calling Throwable method getCause.

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Declaring New Exception Types
 Sometimes it’s useful to declare your own exception classes that are
specific to the problems that can occur when another programmer uses
your reusable classes.
 A new exception class must extend an existing exception class to

ensure that the class can be used with the exception-handling

mechanism.

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Declaring New Exception Types (cont.)
 A typical new exception class contains only four constructors:
◦ one that takes no arguments and passes a default error message String to the
superclass constructor;
◦ one that receives a customized error message as a String and passes it to the
superclass constructor;
◦ one that receives a customized error message as a String and a Throwable
(for chaining exceptions) and passes both to the superclass constructor;
◦ and one that receives a Throwable (for chaining exceptions) and passes it to the
superclass constructor.

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Preconditions and Postconditions
 Programmers spend significant amounts of time maintaining and
debugging code.
 To facilitate these tasks and to improve the overall design, they can

specify the expected states before and after a method’s execution.

 These states are called preconditions and postconditions, respectively.

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Preconditions and Postconditions (Cont.)
 A precondition must be true when a method is invoked.
◦ Describes constraints on method parameters and any other expectations the
method has about the current state of a program just before it begins executing.
◦ If the preconditions are not met, the method’s behavior is undefined.
◦ You should never expect consistent behavior if the preconditions are not
satisfied.

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Preconditions and Postconditions (Cont.)
 A postcondition is true after the method successfully returns.
◦ Describes constraints on the return value and any other side effects the method
may have.
◦ When calling a method, you may assume that a method fulfills all of its
postconditions.
◦ If writing your own method, document all postconditions so that others know
what to expect when they call your method, and you should make certain that
your method honors all its postconditions if its preconditions are met.
 When preconditions or postconditions are not met, methods typically
throw exceptions.

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Preconditions and Postconditions (Cont.)
 As an example, examine String method charAt, which has one int
parameter—an index in the String.
◦ For a precondition, method charAt assumes that index is greater than or equal to zero
and less than the length of the String.
◦ If the precondition is met, the postcondition states that the method will return the
character at the position in the String specified by the parameter index.
◦ Otherwise, the method throws an Index-Out-Of-Bounds-Exception.
◦ We trust that method charAt satisfies its postcondition, provided that we meet the
precondition.
◦ We need not be concerned with the details of how the method actually retrieves the
character at the index.

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Preconditions and Postconditions (Cont.)
 Some programmers state preconditions and postconditions informally
as part of the general method specification, while others prefer a more
formal approach by explicitly defining them.
 State the preconditions and postconditions in a comment before the

method declaration.
 Stating the preconditions and postconditions before writing a method

will also help guide you as you implement the method.

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Assertions
 When implementing and debugging a class, it’s sometimes useful to
state conditions that should be true at a particular point in a method.
 Assertions help ensure a program’s validity by catching potential bugs

and identifying possible logic errors during development.

 Preconditions and postconditions are two types of assertions.

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Assertions (Cont.)
 Java includes two versions of the assert statement for validating assertions
programatically.
 assert evaluates a boolean expression and, if false, throws an
AssertionError (a subclass of Error).
assert expression;
 throws an AssertionError if expression is false.
assert expression1 : expression2;
 evaluates expression1 and throws an AssertionError with expression2 as the error message if
expression1 is false.
 Can be used to programmatically implement preconditions and
postconditions or to verify any other intermediate states that help you ensure
your code is working correctly.

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Assertions (Cont.)
 You use assertions primarily for debugging and identifying logic errors
in an application.
 You must explicitly enable assertions when executing a program

◦ They reduce performance.

◦ They are unnecessary for the program’s user.
 To enable assertions, use the java command’s -ea command-line
option, as in
java -ea AssertTest

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try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
 Typically resource-release code should be placed in a finally block
to ensure that a resource is released, regardless of whether there were
exceptions when the resource was used in the corresponding try block.
 An alternative notation—the try-with-resources statement

(introduced in Java SE 7)—simplifies writing code in which you obtain

one or more resources, use them in a try block and release them in a
corresponding finally block.

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try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
(cont.)
 For example, a file-processing application could process a file with a
try-with-resources statement to ensure that the file is closed properly
when it’s no longer needed.
 Each resource must be an object of a class that implements the

AutoCloseable interface—and thus provides a close method.

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try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
(cont.)
 The general form of a try-with-resources statement is
try (ClassName theObject = new ClassName())
{
// use theObject here
}
catch ( Exception e )
{
// catch exceptions that occur while using the resource
}
 ClassName is a class that implements the AutoCloseable interface.

© Copyright 1992-2018 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
(cont.)
 This code creates an object of type ClassName and uses it in the try
block, then calls its close method to release any resources used by
the object.
 The try-with-resources statement implicitly calls the Object’s close

method at the end of the try block.

 You can allocate multiple resources in the parentheses following try by

separating them with a semicolon (;).

© Copyright 1992-2018 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
(cont.)
 Java 8 introduced effectively final local variables
 If the compiler can infer that the variable could have been declared

final, because its enclosing method never modifies the variable after
it’s declared and initialized, then the variable is effectively final
◦ Frequently are used with lambdas (Chapter 17, Lambdas and Streams).
 As of Java SE 9, you can create an AutoCloseable object and assign
it to a local variable that’s explicitly declared final or that’s
effectively final
 Then, you can use it in a try-with-resources statement that releases

the object’s resources at the end of the try block.

© Copyright 1992-2018 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

try-with-Resources: Automatic Resource Deallocation
(cont.)
 ClassName theObject = new ClassName();
try (theObject) {
// use theObject here, then release its resources at
// the end of the try block
}
catch (Exception e) {
// catch exceptions that occur while using the
resource
}
 As before, you can separate with a semicolon (;) multiple
AutoCloseable objects in the parentheses following try

© Copyright 1992-2018 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.