Can you explain what is meant by exception in programming?

An exception in programming is a mechanism for handling errors or unusual situations that occur during program execution. When an error occurs (for example, division by zero or attempting to access a non-existent element), an exception is generated — a special object that interrupts the normal flow of execution.

A programmer can "catch" this exception and handle it so that the program does not terminate abruptly but responds correctly to the error.

Example in Java:

try {
    int result = 10 / 0;
} catch (ArithmeticException e) {
    System.out.println("Error: division by zero");
}

Here, dividing by zero generates an ArithmeticException, which we handle in the catch block.