Exception Handling Best Practices

Writing `try-catch` blocks is easy, but writing good error handling code requires discipline. Here are the top rules to follow.

1. Never Swallow Exceptions

Don't catch an exception and do empty logic. This hides the error forever.

// BAD
catch (Exception e) { } 

// GOOD
catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace(); // or Logger.error()
}

2. Catch Specific Exceptions

Always catch the most specific exception first. Don't just catch Exception for everything.

3. Clean Up Resources

Always use a finally block or "Try-with-Resources" to close files and connections.

// Try-with-Resources (Java 7+)
// Automatically closes the resource
try (Scanner scanner = new Scanner(new File("test.txt"))) {
    while (scanner.hasNext()) {
        System.out.println(scanner.nextLine());
    }
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

4. Don't Catch 'Throwable'

Never catch Throwable because it includes Error (like OutOfMemoryError) which you shouldn't try to handle.

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Summary