Java – throw an exception or block it?

The question is whether it prefers to throw exceptions or prevent exceptions This is a game project

The index out of boundary exception is related to coding

I have a list < E >

private Attribute<List> attributes;

A method of obtaining items by index

public Attribute getAttribute (int index) {
    if (index < 0 || index >= attributes.size())
        index = 0;

    return attributes.get(index);
}

In this case, I default to the first element of the list

Solution

Quick failure is usually a good idea: if you pass the index of - 1 to the method, it may mean that there is an error in the code calling the method If you silently use index = 0, (a) the calling code may not receive the expected results, and (b) you may not notice the error until it becomes very chaotic

So I just want to use:

public Attribute getAttribute (int index) {
    return attributes.get(index);
}

If necessary, an exception is thrown If the code calling this method has no errors, the exception should never be thrown