PrintWriter methods throw NO exceptions!

Question

Hi,
According to the PrintWriter javadoc:
"Methods in this class never throw I/O exceptions. The client may inquire as to whether any errors have occurred by invoking checkError()."
I think this sounds strange in Java language, since it has the Exceptions mechanism...does any one know the reason why it is like this?
Regards

Answer 1

With unchecked exception, it will still terminate my function mid-way!
Here is a concrete example:
public void method1() {
   try {
      ... open database then read 1 entry ...
      file.println("Entry is "+x);
      method2();
      ... close the DB connection properly.
   } catch(DBException ex) {
      ... deal with the DB failure accordingly
public void method2() {
   try {
      ... open a webconnection then read 1 webpage ...
      file.println("Webpage is" + y);
      ... now close the web connection
   } catch(webException ex) {
      ... deal with the Web failure in a web-specific way
}If println throws exception (checked or unchecked), then I must wrap method1 AND method2
in yet another try/catch block. Otherwise, the function will die halfway, and my database or web connection
will be in a funky state.
By not throwing any exception (unless OutOfMemory or other dire situation),
I can write method1 and method2 without worrying about it.
And then at the end, I just check to see if all the writes succeeded or not.