Catching Java errors

Question

I\'ve heard that catching java.lang.Error is considered bad practice. I\'m currently loading a .dll that is not guaranteed to be on the PATH, and would like to

Answer 1

If you are coding defensively and can recover from an issue, then it's not a Java Error. If such an issue is not very likely, then create a subclass of Exception and throw and catch that. If such an issue is likely, then it shouldn't even throw an Exception; but, should be part of the regular code flow.

try {
  if (config.hasCustomDLL()) {
    System.load(config.getCustomDLL());
  } else {
    System.loadLibrary(Config.DEFAULT_DLL);
  }
} catch (UnstatisfiedLinkError e) {
  System.out.println("Error loading DLL: " + e);
}

Errors are meant for really bad failures, not recoverable "failures" which really aren't even failures if there is a suitable workaround. Don't overload the system designed to handle failure with what amounts to an ability to configure the system multiple ways.