Should your exceptions be named PrinterException or PrintingException

Question

Given an interface like

Printer {
  print()
}

should it throw PrinterException or PrintingException. I guess PrinterException is more generic in that it can also be used for methods done by the Printer that is not actually printing, say something like turnoff().

What if Printer actually had two methods

Printer {
   shutdown() throws PrinterShuttingDownException;
   print() throws PrintingException
}

or

Printer {
   shutdown() throws PrinterException;
   print() throws PrinterException;
}

Answer 1

I would argue PrinterException is better because it defines exceptions which aren't necessarily related to the act of printing, which is possible if the arguments aren't correct or it fails for a somewhat unrelated issue like problems logging to a file.

Though, it's subjective so it's up to you.

Edit:
If you have two operations, print and shutdown, then print should throw a PrintingException and shutdown should throw a PrinterShutdownException, both of which would derive from PrinterException. This would allow you to catch specific cases or any exception related to the printer.

Answer 2

I would always have PrinterException. It's an Exception, thrown by the Printer.