If code throws an incompatible type, the little ^ pointer in the error message always points to the first Exception type in the clause. If possible, it should point to the offending type. For instance,if I put a String in the catch clause,

neg01.java:15: incompatible types
        }catch(final ExceptionA|ExceptionB|RuntimeException|String E ) {
                     ^
  required: Throwable
  found: Serializable
1 error