This is, in theory, the difference between checked and unchecked exceptions in languages that support such distinctions. Checked exceptions are basically part of the control flow and the API contract used for things that can happen but are not necessary programmer errors (IO Exceptions being the classic example). Whereas unchecked exceptions are supposed to be used for programming errors (think Illegal Arguments, Null Pointer, Array Index Out of Bounds). Unchecked also usually cover other fatal conditions like stack overflow or OOM. Checked, handle with care, Unchecked, let the stack unwind and fail fast.