— Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Chairman, President and ceo

try {
laundry.doLaundry();
} catch(TeeShirtException tex) {
// recovery from TeeShirtException
} catch(LingerieException lex) {
// recovery from LingerieException
} catch(ClothingException cex) {
// recovery from all others
}
TeeShirtExceptions and 
LingerieExceptions need different 
recovery code, so you should use 
different catch blocks.
All other ClothingExceptions 
are caught here.

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332
 
chapter 11
The higher up the inheritance tree, the bigger the 
catch ‘basket’. As you move down the inheritance 
tree, toward more and more specialized Exception 
classes, the catch ‘basket’ is smaller. It’s just plain old 
polymorphism. 
A ShirtException catch is big enough to take 
a TeeShirtException or a DressShirtException 
(and any future subclass of anything that extends 
ShirtException). A ClothingException is even bigger 
(i.e. there are more things that can be referenced 
using a ClothingException type). It can take an 
exception of type ClothingException(duh), and 
any ClothingException subclasses: PantsException, 
UniformException, LingerieException, and 
ShirtException. The mother of all catch arguments 
is type 
Exception
; it will catch any exception, 
including runtime (unchecked) exceptions, so you 
probably won’t use it outside of testing.
Multiple catch blocks must be ordered 
from smallest to biggest
UniformException
ClothingException
PantsException
LingerieException
ShirtException
TeeShirtException
DressShirtException
catch(TeeShirtException tex)
catch(ShirtException sex)