In most cases, it is possible to catch exceptions in Java, even unchecked ones. But, it is not necessarily possible to do something about it (for example out of memory).

For other cases, the issue I am trying to solve is a design principle one. I am trying to set-up a design principle or a set of rules indicating when one should give up on an exceptional situation, even if it is detected in time. The objective is trying to not crash the application as much as possible.

Has someone already brainstormed and communicated about this? I am looking for specific generic cases and possible solutions, or thumb-rules.

UPDATE

Suggestions so far:

• Stop running if data coherency can be compromised
• Stop running if data can be deleted
• Stop running if you can't do anything about it (Out of memory...)

• Stop running if key service is not available or becomes unavailable and cannot be restarted

• If application must be stopped, degrade as gracefully as possible

• Use rollbacks in db transactions
• Log as much relevant information as you can
• Notify the developers