Why is catching Exception or Throwable a bad default in a Spring controller?
PICTURE THIS: A REST CALL
Simple meaning
You swallow bugs like NullPointerException and hide them behind a generic 500, which makes debugging painful.
WHY — Exceptions instead of guessing?
Why interviewers care about Exceptions:
on Exceptions.
the situation, the default choice, and one exception - that reads as experience.
Name the idea, why it exists, then one short example.
End with when you use it and one common pitfall.
STEPS — What happens step by step?
Before you speak the answer, walk the interviewer through these steps:
- 1You swallow bugs like
NullPointerException and hide them behind a generic 500, which makes debugging painful.
- 2Catch the specific recoverable
types you can handle, and let a global @ControllerAdvice map the rest to a proper HTTP status.
- 3Catching Throwable also intercepts
Errors you should not treat as business failures.
- 4Give an example
One tiny concrete case you can say aloud.
- 5Common mistake
What juniors usually get wrong.
- 6Close
When you pick this over the alternative.
EXAMPLE — See it in action
Here's a short line you can speak, broken into clear beats:
Note: Adapt this scaffold to your own project — keep it under 60–90 seconds.
Key takeaway
You swallow bugs like NullPointerException and hide them behind a generic 500, which makes debugging painful. Catch the specific recoverable types you can handle, and let a global @ControllerAdvice map the rest to a proper HTTP status.