title: Is it better to use try/catch instead of multiple IF statements?
body: <p>Is it better, less expensive or more readable to use a <code>try/catch</code> block in Java instead of using multiple <code>If</code> statements to check user input for example?</p>
  
  <p>Example when parsing a <code>Date</code> string, won't it be better to parse directly using a try/catch block instead of writing multiple statements looking for illegal characters. </p>
  
  <p>In another example, say i want to read a file or stream, instead of using <code>Scanner</code>, I just force the method and wait for an exception to occur.</p>
  
  <p>Is that a healthy method of programming? Is it less expensive on the Virtual Machine?</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong><br>
  Here is an example of what i meant when <a href="http://omarkababji.weebly.com/1/post/2009/09/worst-5-code-snippets-till-now.html" rel="noreferrer">using DateFormat exception</a>, sometimes it could be a real problem to catch an error, and when doing so, can you guarantee your complicated (usually unreadable) code is error prone? </p>