READING CHAPTER 8 SECTION 5 "Programmer-Defined Exceptions" - define our own exception classes - instead of using generic exception classes - lets us write methods to provide more useful information - make the new exception class a subclass of Exception - because want programmers to have to catch the exception: use a checked exception - syntax class extends Exception {} Quick Check: 1. We want to define a customized exception class when the existing classes don't allow us to access enough information about the exception. 2. A customized exception class should be a checked exception.