What are exceptions that need to be explicitly handled in code used for?

In Java, there are two types of exceptions: checked and unchecked. Exceptions that must be explicitly handled (checked exceptions) are designed to compel the programmer to anticipate potential errors that may occur during program execution.

Goals of checked exceptions:

• Ensure reliability: The programmer must either handle the exception (try-catch) or declare it in the method signature (throws), which increases fault tolerance.
• Explicit error management: Allows clearly specifying which errors may occur and how to handle them.

Example:

public void readFile(String path) throws IOException {
    FileReader file = new FileReader(path);
    // reading the file
}

try {
    readFile("file.txt");
} catch (IOException e) {
    System.out.println("Error reading file: " + e.getMessage());
}

Thus, checked exceptions help write more reliable and predictable code, prompting the developer to consider possible errors and their handling.