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Exception compiler error

 
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During compilation I get "incompatible types" error for the statement catch(Exception e).

 
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Why are you handling Exceptions? I can see nowhere which would throw an Exception in the first place.
 
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if you have catched Exception,you shouldn't throws Exception.
maybe str.length=0.but there is no exception occur unless you define you own Excetion
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Sami Devine wrote:During compilation I get "incompatible types" error for the statement catch(Exception e). . . .

No, you don't. You get a completely different compiler error. Please tell the details correctly.
 
Sami Devine
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Hi Campbell,Yunnan thanks
This is an excercise from Exceptions chapter
Campbell, I compiled once again using cmd prompt. The following are the errors

C:\Javasrc>javac Propagate.java
Propagate.java:2: incompatible types
found : Exception
required: java.lang.Throwable
public static void reverse(String reverseStr) throws Exception{
^
Propagate.java:9: incompatible types
found : Exception
required: java.lang.Throwable
catch(Exception e){System.out.println("String length is 0");}
^
2 errors
 
Yunnan Zhou
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you throw Exception when you start you method.
just remove throws Exception an try again.
or you must try {p.reverse("oops");
p.reverse("");} catch(Exception e){}
 
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<sorry -- late to the post>

rc
 
Campbell Ritchie
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I never got those errors, when I copied and pasted your code, and ran it with the Sun/Oracle compiler in JDK1.6.0_25. I can see nowhere that produces or requires a Throwable. If you comment out the throws declaration, as yunnan zz has pointed out, the whole thing compiles.
Is that the same code you have at home? Which compiler are you using? Which book or tutorial is that exercise from?
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Have you got your own Exception class, which is different from the java.lang.Exception class? Try changing all instances of Exception to java.lang.Exception?

That is a sure-fire way to cause no end of confusion: create your own class with the same name as a class in the java.lang package.
 
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Sami Devine wrote:C:\Javasrc>javac Propagate.java
Propagate.java:2: incompatible types
found : Exception
required: java.lang.Throwable
public static void reverse(String reverseStr) throws Exception{


Exception is a sub-class of Throwable, so that's a bit strange. Do you have another Exception class that you've defined yourself that is masking the built-in java.lang.Exception class?

Edit: 13 seconds! Too slow.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Get rid of your own Exception class and it will work. You still need to get rid of that throws, however.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Matthew Brown wrote: . . . 13 seconds! Too slow.

Rob would have been there 3 seconds earlier
 
Sami Devine
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Thank you all, there was an Exception.class in my folder which I deleted. I also removed the throws Exception clause. Program compiles and runs.
But it does not throw Exception for the empty string call,
 
Sami Devine
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Adding an else part solved the problem

 
Matthew Brown
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A couple of observations, if you're interested in improving the code:

You throw an Exception, but then just catch it and write some output. Why not just write the output in the first place?

If you do need to use an exception (which would be most likely if you're throwing the exception out of the method), you're better off using a more specific exception so that it is more meaningful, and so that people can catch particular exceptions if they want to. In this case, I'd suggest using an IllegalArgumentException. That's an unchecked exception, so it doesn't have to be caught.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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I know the point of that exercise is to show how Exceptions are thrown and caught, but there is no need to worry about the empty String. If you go through the for loop with an empty String, and write the indices and the control flow with a pencil and paper, you will see exactly what happens and you will see there will never be any problems like that
 
Sami Devine
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Campbell, I think if the string length is 0, the for loop will not be executed at all.

Mathew, I understand, this is one of my first programs with exceptions. So it is a desperate attempt to use try catch finally. I looked at the program once again, it does look weird. probably the weirdest solution for this problem.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Sami Devine wrote:Campbell, I think if the string length is 0, the for loop will not be executed at all. . . .

Correct.

If the loop is never executed, the loop cannot suffer any problems and if it can't suffer any problems it can't throw any Exceptions.
 
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