Should methods that throw RuntimeException indicate it in method signature?

java exception oop exception-handling
Jacques René Mesrine picture Jacques René Mesrine · May 5, 2009 · Viewed 35.3k times · Source

For example, many methods in frameworks/JDK might throw 

java.lang.SecurityException

but this is not indicated in the method signature (since that is a practice normally reserved for checked exceptions). I want to argue that declaring RuntimeExceptions in method sigs has many benefits (akin to static type checking for example). Am I drunk or otherwise?

Answer

Robin picture Robin · May 5, 2009

I would not declare an unchecked exception in the signature, since it is misleading to the user of that API. It is no longer obvious whether the exception has to be explicitly handled.

Declaring it in the javadoc is a better approach since it allows someone to handle it if they think it is necessary, but knowing they can ignore it if they want. This makes the separation between checked and unchecked clear.

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