Effective Java: Document All Exceptions Thrown By Each Method

Effective Java Review (90 Part Series)

1 Effective Java Tuesday! Let’s Consider Static Factory Methods
2 Effective Java Tuesday! The Builder Pattern!
… 86 more parts…
3 Effective Java Tuesday! Singletons!
4 Effective Java Tuesday! Utility Classes!
5 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer Dependency Injection!
6 Effective Java Tuesday! Avoid Creating Unnecessary Objects!
7 Effective Java Tuesday! Don’t Leak Object References!
8 Effective Java Tuesday! Avoid Finalizers and Cleaners!
9 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer try-with-resources
10 Effective Java Tuesday! Obey the `equals` contract
11 Effective Java Tuesday! Obey the `hashCode` contract
12 Effective Java Tuesday! Override `toString`
13 Effective Java Tuesday! Override `clone` judiciously
14 Effective Java Tuesday! Consider Implementing `Comparable`
15 Effective Java Tuesday! Minimize the Accessibility of Classes and Member
16 Effective Java Tuesday! In Public Classes, Use Accessors, Not Public Fields
17 Effective Java Tuesday! Minimize Mutability
18 Effective Java Tuesday! Favor Composition Over Inheritance
19 Effective Java Tuesday! Design and Document Classes for Inheritance or Else Prohibit It.
20 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer Interfaces to Abstract Classes
21 Effective Java! Design Interfaces for Posterity
22 Effective Java! Use Interfaces Only to Define Types
23 Effective Java! Prefer Class Hierarchies to Tagged Classes
24 Effective Java! Favor Static Members Classes over Non-Static
25 Effective Java! Limit Source Files to a Single Top-Level Class
26 Effective Java! Don’t Use Raw Types
27 Effective Java! Eliminate Unchecked Warnings
28 Effective Java! Prefer Lists to Array
29 Effective Java! Favor Generic Types
30 Effective Java! Favor Generic Methods
31 Effective Java! Use Bounded Wildcards to Increase API Flexibility
32 Effective Java! Combine Generics and Varargs Judiciously
33 Effective Java! Consider Typesafe Heterogenous Containers
34 Effective Java! Use Enums Instead of int Constants
35 Effective Java! Use Instance Fields Instead of Ordinals
36 Effective Java! Use EnumSet Instead of Bit Fields
37 Effective Java! Use EnumMap instead of Ordinal Indexing
38 Effective Java! Emulate Extensible Enums With Interfaces.
39 Effective Java! Prefer Annotations to Naming Patterns
40 Effective Java! Consistently Use the Override Annotation
41 Effective Java! Use Marker Interfaces to Define Types
42 Effective Java! Prefer Lambdas to Anonymous Classes
43 Effective Java! Prefer Method References to Lambdas
44 Effective Java! Favor the Use of Standard Functional Interfaces
45 Effective Java! Use Stream Judiciously
46 Effective Java! Prefer Side-Effect-Free Functions in Streams
47 Effective Java! Prefer Collection To Stream as a Return Type
48 Effective Java! Use Caution When Making Streams Parallel
49 Effective Java! Check Parameters for Validity
50 Effective Java! Make Defensive Copies When Necessary
51 Effective Java! Design Method Signatures Carefully
52 Effective Java! Use Overloading Judiciously
53 Effective Java! Use Varargs Judiciously
54 Effective Java! Return Empty Collections or Arrays, Not Nulls
55 Effective Java! Return Optionals Judiciously
56 Effective Java: Write Doc Comments For All Exposed APIs
57 Effective Java: Minimize The Scope of Local Variables
58 Effective Java: Prefer for-each loops to traditional for loops
59 Effective Java: Know and Use the Libraries
60 Effective Java: Avoid Float and Double If Exact Answers Are Required
61 Effective Java: Prefer Primitive Types to Boxed Types
62 Effective Java: Avoid Strings When Other Types Are More Appropriate
63 Effective Java: Beware the Performance of String Concatenation
64 Effective Java: Refer to Objects By Their Interfaces
65 Effective Java: Prefer Interfaces To Reflection
66 Effective Java: Use Native Methods Judiciously
67 Effective Java: Optimize Judiciously
68 Effective Java: Adhere to Generally Accepted Naming Conventions
69 Effective Java: Use Exceptions for Only Exceptional Circumstances
70 Effective Java: Use Checked Exceptions for Recoverable Conditions
71 Effective Java: Avoid Unnecessary Use of Checked Exceptions
72 Effective Java: Favor The Use of Standard Exceptions
73 Effective Java: Throw Exceptions Appropriate To The Abstraction
74 Effective Java: Document All Exceptions Thrown By Each Method
75 Effective Java: Include Failure-Capture Information in Detail Messages
76 Effective Java: Strive for Failure Atomicity
77 Effective Java: Don’t Ignore Exceptions
78 Effective Java: Synchronize Access to Shared Mutable Data
79 Effective Java: Avoid Excessive Synchronization
80 Effective Java: Prefer Executors, Tasks, and Streams to Threads
81 Effective Java: Prefer Concurrency Utilities Over wait and notify
82 Effective Java: Document Thread Safety
83 Effective Java: Use Lazy Initialization Judiciously
84 Effective Java: Don’t Depend on the Thread Scheduler
85 Effective Java: Prefer Alternatives To Java Serialization
86 Effective Java: Implement Serializable With Great Caution
87 Effective Java: Consider Using a Custom Serialized Form
88 Effective Java: Write readObject Methods Defensively
89 Effective Java: For Instance Control, Prefer Enum types to readResolve
90 Effective Java: Consider Serialization Proxies Instead of Serialized Instances

Documentation is critical for quickly understanding a class and its methods. Exceptions, both checked and unchecked, are part of the contract of a method and thus should be properly documented to allow users of your code to quickly understand how your code behaves.

Part of what makes good documentation is that it is very specific. While it is not a lie to document that a method throws Exception or even Throwable it isn’t useful. We should be striving to throw (and by extension document) the most specific exception type possible. This is of particular import when we are documenting an interface where the interface’s documentation will serve as the common documentation for all the implementations.

JavaDoc offers a simple way to document exceptions thrown by a method by using the throws tag. This first-class support for exceptions in JavaDoc can be used for both checked as well as unchecked exceptions. A particular thing that can be extra beneficial about documenting these exceptions can turn into the documentation of the preconditions for the method which can be extremely useful for users of your class. If a particular exception will be thrown from each method in a class you can choose to use a class level comment which can clean up the documentation to an extent.

Documentation is extremely important. We may not always see the immediate payoff of this documentation but in the grand scheme of things, it can pay for itself many times over.

Effective Java Review (90 Part Series)

1 Effective Java Tuesday! Let’s Consider Static Factory Methods
2 Effective Java Tuesday! The Builder Pattern!
… 86 more parts…
3 Effective Java Tuesday! Singletons!
4 Effective Java Tuesday! Utility Classes!
5 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer Dependency Injection!
6 Effective Java Tuesday! Avoid Creating Unnecessary Objects!
7 Effective Java Tuesday! Don’t Leak Object References!
8 Effective Java Tuesday! Avoid Finalizers and Cleaners!
9 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer try-with-resources
10 Effective Java Tuesday! Obey the `equals` contract
11 Effective Java Tuesday! Obey the `hashCode` contract
12 Effective Java Tuesday! Override `toString`
13 Effective Java Tuesday! Override `clone` judiciously
14 Effective Java Tuesday! Consider Implementing `Comparable`
15 Effective Java Tuesday! Minimize the Accessibility of Classes and Member
16 Effective Java Tuesday! In Public Classes, Use Accessors, Not Public Fields
17 Effective Java Tuesday! Minimize Mutability
18 Effective Java Tuesday! Favor Composition Over Inheritance
19 Effective Java Tuesday! Design and Document Classes for Inheritance or Else Prohibit It.
20 Effective Java Tuesday! Prefer Interfaces to Abstract Classes
21 Effective Java! Design Interfaces for Posterity
22 Effective Java! Use Interfaces Only to Define Types
23 Effective Java! Prefer Class Hierarchies to Tagged Classes
24 Effective Java! Favor Static Members Classes over Non-Static
25 Effective Java! Limit Source Files to a Single Top-Level Class
26 Effective Java! Don’t Use Raw Types
27 Effective Java! Eliminate Unchecked Warnings
28 Effective Java! Prefer Lists to Array
29 Effective Java! Favor Generic Types
30 Effective Java! Favor Generic Methods
31 Effective Java! Use Bounded Wildcards to Increase API Flexibility
32 Effective Java! Combine Generics and Varargs Judiciously
33 Effective Java! Consider Typesafe Heterogenous Containers
34 Effective Java! Use Enums Instead of int Constants
35 Effective Java! Use Instance Fields Instead of Ordinals
36 Effective Java! Use EnumSet Instead of Bit Fields
37 Effective Java! Use EnumMap instead of Ordinal Indexing
38 Effective Java! Emulate Extensible Enums With Interfaces.
39 Effective Java! Prefer Annotations to Naming Patterns
40 Effective Java! Consistently Use the Override Annotation
41 Effective Java! Use Marker Interfaces to Define Types
42 Effective Java! Prefer Lambdas to Anonymous Classes
43 Effective Java! Prefer Method References to Lambdas
44 Effective Java! Favor the Use of Standard Functional Interfaces
45 Effective Java! Use Stream Judiciously
46 Effective Java! Prefer Side-Effect-Free Functions in Streams
47 Effective Java! Prefer Collection To Stream as a Return Type
48 Effective Java! Use Caution When Making Streams Parallel
49 Effective Java! Check Parameters for Validity
50 Effective Java! Make Defensive Copies When Necessary
51 Effective Java! Design Method Signatures Carefully
52 Effective Java! Use Overloading Judiciously
53 Effective Java! Use Varargs Judiciously
54 Effective Java! Return Empty Collections or Arrays, Not Nulls
55 Effective Java! Return Optionals Judiciously
56 Effective Java: Write Doc Comments For All Exposed APIs
57 Effective Java: Minimize The Scope of Local Variables
58 Effective Java: Prefer for-each loops to traditional for loops
59 Effective Java: Know and Use the Libraries
60 Effective Java: Avoid Float and Double If Exact Answers Are Required
61 Effective Java: Prefer Primitive Types to Boxed Types
62 Effective Java: Avoid Strings When Other Types Are More Appropriate
63 Effective Java: Beware the Performance of String Concatenation
64 Effective Java: Refer to Objects By Their Interfaces
65 Effective Java: Prefer Interfaces To Reflection
66 Effective Java: Use Native Methods Judiciously
67 Effective Java: Optimize Judiciously
68 Effective Java: Adhere to Generally Accepted Naming Conventions
69 Effective Java: Use Exceptions for Only Exceptional Circumstances
70 Effective Java: Use Checked Exceptions for Recoverable Conditions
71 Effective Java: Avoid Unnecessary Use of Checked Exceptions
72 Effective Java: Favor The Use of Standard Exceptions
73 Effective Java: Throw Exceptions Appropriate To The Abstraction
74 Effective Java: Document All Exceptions Thrown By Each Method
75 Effective Java: Include Failure-Capture Information in Detail Messages
76 Effective Java: Strive for Failure Atomicity
77 Effective Java: Don’t Ignore Exceptions
78 Effective Java: Synchronize Access to Shared Mutable Data
79 Effective Java: Avoid Excessive Synchronization
80 Effective Java: Prefer Executors, Tasks, and Streams to Threads
81 Effective Java: Prefer Concurrency Utilities Over wait and notify
82 Effective Java: Document Thread Safety
83 Effective Java: Use Lazy Initialization Judiciously
84 Effective Java: Don’t Depend on the Thread Scheduler
85 Effective Java: Prefer Alternatives To Java Serialization
86 Effective Java: Implement Serializable With Great Caution
87 Effective Java: Consider Using a Custom Serialized Form
88 Effective Java: Write readObject Methods Defensively
89 Effective Java: For Instance Control, Prefer Enum types to readResolve
90 Effective Java: Consider Serialization Proxies Instead of Serialized Instances

原文链接：Effective Java: Document All Exceptions Thrown By Each Method