Question

As far as I understand, there is no way to find out which exceptions a method throws without looking up the API docs one-by-one.

Since that is no option, I’d like to reverse the research and ask you which are the most common Exceptions and RuntimeExceptions you’ve come across when dealing with:

• Casting
• Arrays
• Vector, ArrayList, HashMap, etc.
• IO (File class, streams, filters, …)
• Object Serialization
• Threads (wait(), sleep(), etc.)
• or anything else that is considered “basic Java”

I realize that this might be subjective and boring but it is for a class test and I really don’t know better.

Answer 1

Assume the below are java.lang unless I specify otherwise:

• Casting: ClassCastException
• Arrays: ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, NullPointerException
• Collections: NullPointerException, ClassCastException (if you’re not using autoboxing and you screw it up)
• IO: java.io.IOException, java.io.FileNotFoundException, java.io.EOFException
• Serialization: java.io.ObjectStreamException (AND ITS SUBCLASSES, which I’m too lazy to enumerate)
• Threads: InterruptedException, SecurityException, IllegalThreadStateException
• Potentially common to all situations: NullPointerException, IllegalArgumentException

You would do well to look at Java site’s Package Summary pages. Here’s one: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/20/docs/api/java.base/java/io/package-summary.html