A method can return any data type, including class types.

An example is the ErrorMsg class, which can be used to report errors.

The getErrorMsg() method of the ErrorMsg class returns a String object.

This String object contains the description of an error based on the error code received.

Example:

You can return objects from classes you create yourself.

Example: reworked version of the previous program with two error classes.

The Err class encapsulates an error message along with a severity code.

The ErrorInfo class defines a method called getErrorInfo().

The getErrorInfo() method returns an object of class Err.

Every time getErrorInfo() is called, a new Err object is created and returned.

The Err object reference is used in main() to display the error message and severity code.

An object returned by a method continues to exist until it is no longer referenced.

When there are no more references to the object, it is the target of garbage collection.

The object is not destroyed just because the method that created it is terminated.