Why runtime error occurs

Techopedia Explains Runtime Error When an issue occurs and the software is unable to solve it, it generates a runtime error. Here, the error is generated by that specific software, not by the OS.

By means of a self-assessment mechanism known as a trap, the software performs self-diagnosis and recognizes that it cannot proceed further, leading to a runtime error. When the runtime error is displayed and closed, the corresponding software is usually exited or frozen. In some instances, the OS is rebooted. There are various reasons behind a runtime error.

Some of them are as follows: Clashes between terminate and stay resident programs TSR Issues caused by running applications Memory issues Poor Programming Other software problems Aging or damaged hardware Harmful or malicious applications like computer viruses or adware.

Share this Term. Related Terms Memory Software. Virus Adware. Tech moves fast! Stay ahead of the curve with Techopedia! Save Article. Improve Article. Like Article. Runtime Errors : A runtime error in a program is an error that occurs while the program is running after being successfully compiled.

When runtime errors occur after a program has been distributed to the public, developers often release patches, or small updates designed to fix the errors. Anyone can find the list of issues that they might face if they are a beginner in this article. While solving problems on online platforms, many run time errors can be faced, which are not clearly specified in the message that comes with them.

It is virtually always caused by a division by 0. Modulo Operation by Zero. The compiler prevents the code from being executed until the error is fixed. Therefore, these errors must be addressed by debugging before the program can be successfully run. On the other hand, runtime errors occur during program execution the interpretation phase , after compilation has taken place. Any code that throws a runtime error is therefore syntactically correct. A runtime error could potentially be a legitimate issue in code, for example, incorrectly formatted input data or lack of resources e.

When a runtime error occurs in Java, the compiler specifies the lines of code where the error is encountered.

This information can be used to trace back where the problem originated. On the other hand, a logical error is always the symptom of a bug in application code leading to incorrect output e. In case of a logical error, the program operates incorrectly but does not terminate abnormally. Each statement may need to be checked to identify a logical error, which makes it generally harder to debug than a runtime error. When any such errors are encountered, the Java compiler generates an error message and terminates the program abnormally.

However, it may be useful to catch them and continue program execution. To handle a runtime error, the code can be placed within a try-catch block and the error can be caught inside the catch block. Here is an example of a java. ArithmeticException , a type of runtime exception, thrown due to division by zero:. In this example, an integer a is attempted to be divided by another integer b , whose value is zero, leading to a java.

ArithmeticException :. ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException thrown due to an attempt to access an element in an array that is out of bounds:.