What is the purpose of unchecked exceptions in programming?

Unchecked exceptions in Java are runtime exceptions (RuntimeException and its subclasses) that do not require mandatory handling or declaration in the method signature.

Purpose of unchecked exceptions:

• Used for errors that are usually caused by programming mistakes, such as NullPointerException, IllegalArgumentException.
• Allow the code to be less cluttered with checks and exception handling that are not intended to be recovered from.
• Facilitate development when an exception signals incorrect API usage or logic.

Example:

public int divide(int a, int b) {
    if (b == 0) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Divisor cannot be zero");
    }
    return a / b;
}

Here, IllegalArgumentException is an unchecked exception, and the method is not required to declare it in throws. This signals incorrect usage of the method.