Java Exception Handling, Assertions and Logging

Java Exception Handling, Assertions and Logging

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  EXCEPTION HANDLING, ASSERTIONS ANDLOGGING PROGRAMMAZIONE CONCORRENTE E DISTR. Università degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Matematica Corso di Laurea in Informatica, A.A. 2015 – 2016 rcardin@math.unipd.it
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita SUMMARY  Exception handling  Throwing an exception  Catching exceptions  Chaining  Assertions  Using assertions  Logging  Using loggers  Handlers  Appendix: Checked or Unchecked? 2Riccardo Cardin
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Mechanism for transferring the control from the point of failure to a component handler  Dealing with the unexpected is more complex than implementing the "happy path"!  Pitfalls using error codes  The caller is obliged to check for errors  Programmers have to actively check and propagate these error codes  Violation of the Single Responsibility Principle 3Riccardo Cardin
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Throwing exceptions  A method can signal a problem by throwing an exception  Decoupling of the process of detecting and handling errors  Trying to fix in loco is not a good idea...  ...let’s rise an exception, instead! 4Riccardo Cardin private static Random generator = new Random(); public static int readInt(int low, int high) { return low + (int) (generator.nextDouble() * (high – low + 1)); } What if low > high ? if (low > high) throw new IllegalArgumentException( String.format("%d is greater than %d!", low, high);
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Throwing exceptions  The normal flow of execution is interrupted  No value is returned to the caller  The control is transferred to a handler  The handler is searched in the call stack 5Riccardo Cardin methodA(arg1, arg2) methodB(arg1) methodC(arg1, arg2, arg3) methodD(arg1, arg2) Exception
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  The Exception hierarchy 6Riccardo Cardin
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  The Exception hierarchy  Error  Thrown when something exceptional happens that the program cannot be expected to handle  OutOfMemoryError, StackOverflowError, ...  RuntimeException  Unchecked exceptions indicate logic errors caused by programmers, not by unavoidable external risks  NullPointerException, IllegalArgumentException, ...  Exception  Checked exceptions (by the compiler), that must be either catched or declared in the method signature  IOException 7Riccardo Cardin
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Declaring checked exception  Method that might give rise to a checked exception, must declare it in its header with a throws clause  Superclass combination (not a good idea)  An overriding method can throw at most the same checked exceptions of the overriden method  Use javadoc @throws tag to document when a method throws and exception 8Riccardo Cardin public void write(String str) throws IOException /** * @throws NullPointerException if filename is null */ public void write(String str) throws IOException
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  It’s possible to create your own exception  Extend Exception, RuntimeException or another existing exception class  Supply different ctors, such as a default ctor, a ctor with a string message and a ctor with a Throwable  Supply every method you need to give information on the ex. 9Riccardo Cardin public class MyException extends Exception { public MyException() {} public MyException(String message) { // The error message shown in stack trace super(message); } public MyException(Throwable cause) { // Cause is the exception that generate this exception super(cause); } }
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Catching exceptions  The handling of an exception is accomplished with a try block  Sharing one handler among multiple exception classes 10Riccardo Cardin try { // Statments that could throw an exception } catch (ExceptionClass1 ex) { // Handling of the exception of type ExceptionClass1 } catch (ExceptionClass2 ex) { // Handling of the exception of type ExceptionClass2 } The catch clauses are matched top to bottom and they respect type hierarchies try { // Statments that could throw an exception } catch (ExceptionClass1 | ExceptionClass2 ex) { // Handling of the exception of type ExceptionClass1 and 2 } Java 7 and above
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Resource management  When try block exits, exception or not, the close methods of all resources objects are invoked  Resources must implement AutoClosable interface  Resources are closed in reverse order of their initialization  If a close method throws an exception, it is normally propagated  If both a statement in the try block and a close method throw an exception, the former is propagated  The latter is attached as «suppressed» 11Riccardo Cardin try (ResourceType1 res1 = init1; ResourceType2 res2 = init2) { // Statments that use res1 and res2 and // that could throw and exception } catch (Exception ex) { /* ... */ }
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  The finally clause  It is executed when the try block comes to an end, either normally or due to an exeption  Avoid throwing exception in the finally block  Shadowing of the original exception  finally block should not contain a return statement 12Riccardo Cardin try { // Statments } catch (Exception ex) { // Handle exception } finally { // Do some cleanup (release locks, close db connection, ...) }
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  Rethrowing and Chaining Exception  It is possible in a catch block to rethrow and exception  Don’t know how to manage it, but want to log the failure  The compiler tracks the correct flow of exception types  Change the class of the thrown exception  Use the proper constructor or the initCause method (old school) 13Riccardo Cardin try { // Statments } catch (Exception ex) { // Do something throw new Exception("Something is going on here", ex); }
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXCEPTION HANDLING  The Stack trace  If an exception is not caught anywhere, a stack trace is displayed. By default it is sent to System.err  Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler changes the default exception handling policy  ex.printStackTrace() prints on System.out the stack trace of an exception  It’s possible to pass a stream to the above method  Checking nullability  Put a marker in the stack trace, simplifying debugging ops 14Riccardo Cardin public void process(String direction) { this.direction = Objects.requireNonNull(direction); } Java 7 and above
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita ASSERTIONS  A common idiom of defensive programming  Assertions allow to put in checks during test and to have them automatically removed in production code  Throws and AssertionError if it is false  Expression value is passed into the error  Intended as a debugging aid for validating internal assumptions  Enable / disable assertion at runtime 15Riccardo Cardin assert condition; assert condition : expression; java –enableassertions MainClass // or -ea java –disableassertions MainClass // or -da
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita LOGGING  The logging API overcomes the problems to deal with System.out.println during debugging  The logging system manages a default logger  You can define your own logger  First time you request a logger with a name, it is created  Logger names are hierarchical  Seven logging levels 16Riccardo Cardin Logger.getGlobal().info("Opening file " + filename); // Prints: Aug 04, 2014 09:53:34 AM com.company.MyClass read // INFO: Opening file data.txt Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("com.company.app"); OFF SEVERE WARNING INFO CONFIG FINE FINER FINEST ALL Logger.setLevel(Level.FINE)
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita LOGGING  Log Handlers  Log handler are hierarchical, too  Default handler (ancestor of all handler) has name " " and it has type ConsoleHandler  For a log, its logging level must be above the threshold of both the logger and the handler  You can use a custom log handler 17Riccardo Cardin # In jre/lib/logging.properties java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level=INFO Handler handler = new ConsoleHandler(); handler.setLevel(Level.FINE); logger.setUseParentHandlers(false); // Inhibit parent handling logger.addHandler(handler);
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita LOGGING  Log Handlers  By default, a logger sends records both to its own handlers and the handlers of the parent.  To prevent double logging, use setUseParentHandlers  There exist two other handlers in the logging API  SocketHandler  Sends records to a specified host and port  FileHandler  Collects records in a file (javan.log in user’s home dir.)  Written in XML  Highly configurable using the logging configuration file 18Riccardo Cardin logger.setUseParentHandlers(false);
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita CHECKED OR UNCHECKED?  Checked or un unchecked, which is better?  There is a active and never ending debate on this question in Java, but no «right absolute answer».  "Use the checked ones, Luke!"  A checked exception is part of a method API  Cay Horstmann  Joshua Bloch 19Riccardo Cardin Unchecked exceptions indicate logic errors caused by programmers, not by unavoidable external risks [..] Checked exceptions are used in a situation where failure should be anticipated. Item 58: Use checked exceptions for recoverable conditions and runtime exceptions for programming errors
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita CHECKED OR UNCHECKED?  "The use of checked is a path to the Dark Side"  Robert C. Martin  Violation of the Open / Close Principle  Martin Fowler  Proposes the Notification pattern 20Riccardo Cardin If you throw a checked exception from a method in your code and the catch is three levels above, you must declare that exception in the signature of each method between you and the catch. This means that a change at a low level of the software can force signature changes on many higher levels. The changed modules must be rebuilt and redeployed, even though nothing they care about changed. ...on the whole I think that exceptions are good, but Java checked exceptions are more trouble than they are worth.
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita CHECKED OR UNCHECKED? 21Riccardo Cardin
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita EXAMPLES 22Riccardo Cardin https://github.com/rcardin/pcd-snippets
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  Programmazione concorrente edistribuita REFERENCES  Chap. 5 «Exceptions, Assertions, and Logging», Core Java for the Impatient, Cay Horstmann, 2015, Addison-Wesley  Replacing Throwing Exceptions with Notification in Validations http://martinfowler.com/articles/replaceThrowWithNotification.ht ml  Chap. 7 «Error handling», Clean Code – A Handbook of Agile Software Craftmanship, Robert C. Martin, 2008, Prentice Hall  «Item 58: Use checked exceptions for recoverable conditions and runtime exceptions for programming errors», Effective Java, Joshua Bloch, 2008, Addison-Wesley 23Riccardo Cardin