Throws in method signature of constructor

Question

I have two constructors below and both executed just fine. Normally, Intellij will fuss at me if I didn't include throws in the method signature of the constructor, but in this particular instance, Intellij didn't bring up any errors. What would be the cause of this? I was taught to always put throws in the method signature if that method were to throw an exception. Is this a bug with Intellij?

protected PayCalculator(double payRate) throws IllegalArgumentException {
        if (payRate >= 0)
            this.payRate = payRate;
        else
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Pay rate cannot be less than zero");
    }

// versus

protected PayCalculator(double payRate) {
        if (payRate >= 0)
            this.payRate = payRate;
        else
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Pay rate cannot be less than zero");
    }

It's a `RuntimeException`, so it's unchecked. You don't need to declare unchecked exceptions in the throws clause (but you should document them) — user, Jul 12 '20 at 18:14
IntelliJ tells you to throw error if it is a checked exception. Here IllegalArgumentException is a Runtime Exception, which is unchecked, So no need to define in the method signature — Abhinaba Chakraborty, Jul 12 '20 at 18:15

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 12 '20 at 18:19

An IllegalArgumentException is a subtype of a RuntimeException. So just like an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException it doesn't need to be caught or thrown. Think of it like this snippet of Code

int foo() {
  int[] bar = new int[2];
  return bar[10];
}

This inevitably will throw an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException but it'll compile just fine.

Throws in method signature of constructor

1 Answers1