Methods must not throw RuntimeException or Exception. Handling these exceptions requires catching RuntimeException, which is disallowed by rule ERR14-J. Do not catch NullPointerException or any of its ancestors. Moreover, throwing a RuntimeException can lead to subtle errors, ; for example, a caller cannot examine the exception to determine why it was thrown , and consequently cannot attempt recovery.
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A calling method must also violate rule ERR14-J. Do not catch NullPointerException or any of its ancestors to determine if the https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/pages/editpage.action?pageId=24608774RuntimeException 
RuntimeException was thrown.
Compliant Solution
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Note that the null check is redundant; if it were removed, the next call (s.equals("")) will throw a NullPointerException when s is null. However, the explicit null check is a good form , because it explicitly indicates the programmer's intent. More complex code may require explicit testing of invariants and appropriate throw statements.
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<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="8e0f8dd1ec7edc72-c5f869fe-4ca94ef7-b5fd9b39-c25f8df8f1cbee469c57c9e0"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ | [[MITRE 2009 | AA. Bibliography#MITRE 09]] | [CWE ID -397 | http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/397.html] "Declaration of Throws for Generic Exception" | ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro> |
| CWE ID -537 "Information Exposure Through Java Runtime Error Message" |
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<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="27f8571e846ea4d1-a31ab9a4-4de64c20-8d62ba02-b560e3f61df56853c54e9ad5"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ | [[Goetz 2004b | AA. Bibliography#Goetz 04b]] |
| ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro> | |
<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="abaaeac76222fc29-d5303a6d-451f4d3a-9d099270-2ac33cbe418e5bab123a1da0"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ | [[Tutorials 2008 | AA. Bibliography#Tutorials 08]] | [Unchecked Exceptions — The Controversy | http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/exceptions/runtime.html] | ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro> |
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