Static modeling method and characteristic analysis of exception propagation network

In area of the exception handling, exception propagation is of catholic concern. Previous researchers focused more on exception propagation paths and the source of a thrown exception but ignored the networked characteristic of exception propagation. An exception propagation networked model was proposed based on the definition of exception transitivity relationship between two methods. A case study was presented for the analysis of main characteristics of complex network, which includes the degree distribution, the exception hierarchy distribution, the clustering coefficient and the average shortest path. The results show that the in-degree and out-degree distribution are basically subject to a power law distribution; Most exception propagation processes violate the rule of "Do not spread the abstract exception"; The exception propagation network appears the low cohesion feature due to the "Weak Border" characteristic. These empirical findings can provide the guidance for software developers in the design process for exception handling.