Final answer:
The practice referred to as defensive programming, which involves anticipating and planning for potential errors during program runtime, is true. It's a critical and reflective approach to software development aiming to ensure programs are robust and reliable.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that the practice of anticipating errors that could happen while a program is running and designing the program to avoid those errors is called defensive programming is true. Defensive programming is indeed a practice where developers anticipate potential errors and handle them in order to prevent the application from crashing or behaving unpredictably. This method involves writing code that is robust against possible misuse, handles unanticipated input gracefully, and generally ensures that the program remains functional under various circumstances. It's a part of a critical and reflective approach to programming, where one is aware of the common mistakes that can be made and designs safeguards against them.
Knowledgeable developers use their experience to foresee where errors might occur and apply techniques such as input validation, consistent error handling, and the use of assertions to ensure the stability and reliability of their code. Just as experts often have a preconceived sense of the answer before conducting a detailed analysis, developers use defensive programming to identify potential mistakes and take a closer examination of the error paths in their programs.