Does a method/class necessarily need to have to throw an exception if it declares so?

[mani manisha]

Hi All,

This question may seem too simple for you.. please help me understand it ..

Does my method/class that declares to throw an exception need to throw it?
i mean what if my class/method has declared that it will throw an exception and does not have a throw statement in its body?

thanks in advance..

[Jesper de Jong]

Welcome to the Ranch!

To answer your question: no, it doesn't.

Why don't you try it out? Write a small test program with a method that declares to throw an exception but doesn't actually throw it, and try to compile it. Experimenting with Java yourself is the best way to learn it.

[Campbell Ritchie]

If you find the 4th edition of Thinking in Java™ by Bruce Eckel, it explains why that feature can be useful.

[Mike Simmons]

I think the actual answer is somewhat more complex than "no, it doesn't." When writing the small test program Jesper suggests, try it with both a checked exception (like, say, IOException) and an unchecked exception (like NullPointerException).