Range Checking
A range check is a check to make sure a number is within a certain range, for instance that a value about to be assigned to say a sixteen-bit integer is within the capacity of a sixteen-bit integer. This is not quite the same as type checking. Other range checks may be more restrictive, for example a variable to hold the number of a calendar month may be declared to accept only the range 1 to 12. This is often used with arrays, as using a number outside of the upper range in an array may cause the program to crash, or may introduce security vulnerabilities (see buffer overflow). In Java, the interpreter automatically does a range-check when items in an array are accessed, and throws an exception if the item is out of range.
Read more about this topic: Bounds Checking
Famous quotes containing the word range:
“In the range of things toddlers have to learn and endlessly review—why you can’t put bottles with certain labels in your mouth, why you have to sit on the potty, why you can’t take whatever you want in the store, why you don’t hit your friends—by the time we got to why you can’t drop your peas, well, I was dropping a few myself.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)