What is the difference between a warning and an error?

• A. Warnings indicate severe problems that halt processing
• B. Errors can be ignored if mild
• C. Warnings can be ignored but errors must be fixed
• D. Both are treated the same in all cases

Answer: (C)

Warnings signal potential issues or deprecated usage, but the program can usually continue to run. Errors indicate definite problems that prevent processing from continuing and must be fixed before you can proceed. That’s why the idea that warnings can be ignored while errors must be fixed is the best description of the difference: warnings are non-blocking notices you may address for quality, while errors block progress and require correction. Keep in mind some tools let you treat warnings as errors, but by default they are non-blocking and do not stop execution. For example, a deprecation warning might show up, but a syntax error stops compilation.