[1] Runtime systems (engines) such as those for the Java programming language or .NET Framework lend themselves to an automated mode of exception or error handling.
In these environments, software errors do not crash the operating system or runtime engine, but rather generate exceptions.
[2] Recent advances in these runtime engines enables specialized runtime engine add-on products to provide automated exception handling that is independent of the source code and provides root-cause information for every exception of interest.
This mechanism enables the automated handling of software errors independent of the application source code and of its developers.
It is a direct artifact of the runtime engine paradigm and it enables unique advantages to the software life cycle that were unavailable before.