The Art of Catching Errors in JavaScript

Mastering try/catch for Graceful Error Handling

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Errors happen. As developers, we try our best to write bug-free code, but mistakes inevitably creep in. When they do, it’s important that our applications don’t come crashing down. Instead, we want them to handle errors gracefully and continue running if possible. This is where try/catch comes in handy.

In this article, you’ll learn how to use try/catch to catch errors in JavaScript. We’ll cover:

• How errors work in JavaScript
• The try/catch syntax
• Real-world examples of using try/catch
• Best practices for error handling

Understanding JavaScript Errors

Before we dive into try/catch, let’s review how errors work in JavaScript. When an execution error occurs, such as trying to reference an undefined variable, it will throw an exception. This halts the normal program flow and triggers the error handling process.

Here’s an example that throws a ReferenceError:

function addNumbers(a, b) {
  console.log(a + c); // c is not defined
}

addNumbers(5, 10);

When this runs, it will output:

Uncaught ReferenceError…