[alanfranz]

> certain scale

Make it explicit. If the array is too large, throw an IllegalArgumentException. Document the limit. Then I agree with you.

Otherwise, if an allowed input crashes the program at runtime with a random exception, I respectfully disagree.

[feoren]

IllegalArgumentException is OK in your book, but OverflowException is not? It's very rare that I actually care which exception type is thrown, but it's a little more polite to throw more clear and reliable exception types. But saying "this could be a little more polite and therefore YOUR CODE HAS A BUG" would make me never want to work with you again.

[alanfranz]

Explict OverflowException could be ok but it may not tell me the root cause. A random index error is not ok at any time.

[brabel]

Then you should absolutely stay away from C :)

[jldugger]

Words to live by!

[alanfranz]

I do.

But the example was Java.