Error Handling

What Is Error Handling?

Error handling is the process of identifying and responding to errors in a software application. It involves techniques used to detect and resolve hardware failures, application errors, programming, and communication errors.

Error handling is a safety net used to manage the fallout when an application malfunctions or crashes. A robust handling process ensures that an app can continue to function when an error occurs without crashing or behaving unexpectedly.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. What Is Error Handling?
2. Key Takeaways
3. Main Errors Categories
4. Error Handling Functions
5. Error Handling Components
6. Debugging Tools in Programming
7. Best Practices for Error Handling in Programming
8. Error Handling Challenges
9. Error Handling Security Issues
10. The Bottom Line
11. FAQs

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. What Is Error Handling?
2. Key Takeaways
3. Main Errors Categories
Show Full Guide
4. Error Handling Functions
5. Error Handling Components
6. Debugging Tools in Programming
7. Best Practices for Error Handling in Programming
8. Error Handling Challenges
9. Error Handling Security Issues
10. The Bottom Line
11. FAQs

Main Errors Categories

There are four main error categories in error handling.

These are defined briefly below:

Error Handling Functions

The main function of error handling is to identify and resolve issues that can occur during the execution of a program. It’s about looking for what types of bugs and issues occur due to errors in application logic and syntax.

Implementing error handling as part of your development process is also useful from a project management perspective because it can help avoid any unusual occurrences or downtime.

Error Handling Components

There are some core error handling components to be aware of, which include exception handling, anomaly detection, and log inspection.

These are broken down briefly below:

• Exception handling: The process of responding to errors and exceptions during system execution to stop a program from crashing.
• Anomaly detection: Identifying anomalous data and activity in an application that could indicate that an error has occurred.
• Log inspection: Reviewing system logs to identify and resolve errors in an application.

Each of these components helps a developer proactively hunt for issues in a program and mitigate them before they have a negative impact on the user experience (UX).

Debugging Tools in Programming

Developers have access to a range of debugging tools they can use to reduce the likelihood of errors. These include integrated development environments (IDEs), profilers, and linters:

• Integrated development environments: Offer built-in debugging tools that a developer can use to start debugging an application.
• Profilers: Can be used to analyze the performance of an application and surface issues such as performance bottlenecks and memory issues.
• Linters: Analyze code for errors, enabling a developer to identify issues that can lead to errors.

Best Practices for Error Handling in Programming

Some best practices to be aware of when using error handling in programming include:

Error Handling Challenges

Of course, identifying errors in code is often easier said than done. One of the biggest issues is that a developer may struggle to consider all the different types of errors that can occur in an application, let alone find a solution to mitigate them.

Developers must then develop an error handling routine capable of reacting to errors when they occur. If this routine isn’t robust enough, then the end user application could crash.

Finally, a developer must consider the computational footprint of implementing error handling. If the error handling process is too computationally intensive, then the performance of the end user application will suffer.

Error Handling Security Issues

There are also some significant security issues to consider. One of the most important is that shipping codes with flaws can provide vulnerabilities that a threat actor can exploit.  For this reason, developers need to be mindful of improper error handling and strengthen their efforts with tools like antivirus software to protect applications against attacks.

But what is improper error handling exactly? It occurs when an error message is displayed to the end user, providing details that a hacker can weaponize to compromise the application’s data and other key systems.

The Bottom Line

Now you know the meaning of error handling, it’s worth underlining that it is a fundamental practice to ensure an application performs well. Without proactively managing errors, it’s going to be difficult to keep your application up and running and offer an experience that keeps users coming back for more.

Taking small steps like proofreading your code can go a long way toward minimizing the chance of disruptions and crashes when your app is in operation.

FAQs