Exceptional Puzzlers - Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases - page 94

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Puzzle 36: Indecision
This poor little program can't quite make up its mind. The decision method returns true . But it
also returns false . What does it print? Is it even legal?
public class Indecisive {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(decision());
}
static boolean decision() {
try {
return true;
} finally {
return false;
}
}
}
Solution 36: Indecision
You might think that this program is illegal. After all, the decision method can't return both TRue
and false . If you tried it, you found that it compiles without error and prints false . Why?
The reason is that in a try-finally statement, the finally block is always executed when
control leaves the try block [JLS 14.20.2]. This is true whether the try block completes normally
or abruptly . Abrupt completion of a statement or block occurs when it throws an exception,
executes a break or continue to an enclosing statement, or executes a return from the method as
in this program. These are called abrupt completions because they prevent the program from
executing the next statement in sequence.