A checked exception is one that the compiler forces you to write a check for. An unchecked exception ("the good kind") is one that you could write a check for

A checked exception is one that the compiler forces you to write a check for. An unchecked exception ("the good kind") is one that you could write a check for if you want to. You probably want to have at least one exception "catch" block somewhere, such as within a message/event handler loop, but checked exceptions force you to write the error catch at the place where a routine is called, and MANY such checks for other calls, rather than at one place at the top of an operation. While this might make sense in a GUI/AWT/Swing app, it does not make sense in a batch processing app (or web app). In that case, there is no user to get a dialog box, you simply log "it did not work due to ..." and move on. Checked exceptions make you write a bunch of extra code.