What Is a Runtime Error?
Most of us take for granted the environment in which we do our everyday computing. It is this runtime environment which gives us everything from a graphical user interface to hidden instructions telling hard drives and video cards how to operate.
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Function
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The computer runtime is the software environment in which a user's computing takes place. Everything from the Windows desktop to the speaker volume is part of it.
Significance
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The runtime environment provides basic hardware and software services for a computer. For example, when starting a program, it is the runtime that loads things into memory, allocates system resources, and schedules processor time, among other things.
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Types
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Our primary runtime environment is our operating system, though some software may come with its own runtime environment, like a Java application needing the Java Runtime Environment to execute.
Considerations
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It is the runtime environment which catches preplanned errors, such as divide by zero errors. If a user tries to divide by zero, the runtime will either crash or, if the programmer has prepared for the error, it will prevent the attempted divide by zero operation and signal a runtime error has occurred.
Benefits
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Having a runtime environment allows us to prepare for possible failures, prevent them from happening, and notify us that something has attempted to break the laws of the runtime.
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