[Biojava-dev] ChangeVetoException proposal for change

[mark.schreiber at novartis.com]

Hello all -

I would like to propose that we modify the ChangeVetoException so that it 
extends RuntimeException thus making it an unchecked exception. The 
Changeable frame work in BioJava is very useful but probably not used all 
that often especially in simple programs. Therefore it is burdensome to 
have to include a try catch block around it. This is made especially true 
when most of the time the only things that will throw this kind of 
exception are listeners that you have set up to monitor and occasionally 
veto changes. Therefore a veto is highly unlikely unless you set up a 
situtation in which it can happen.

This reasoning has also been used in the recent EJB3 spec which made 
several EJB exceptions unchecked because 99% of the time they never happen 
and you only need to be mindful of them in specific situations.

My feeling is that this could remove a lot of un-needed try catch 
statements from a typical biojava project. If you are using Changeable you 
should put them in. If not don't worry about them as it is not likely to 
happen.

Your feedback on this issue is much appreciated. I would like to commit 
any change to this while biojava1.5 is still in beta.

- Mark

Mark Schreiber
Research Investigator (Bioinformatics)

Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD)
10 Biopolis Road
#05-01 Chromos
Singapore 138670
www.nitd.novartis.com

phone +65 6722 2973
fax  +65 6722 2910