RFR 8170348: Appendable.appendN(char, int) method to append multiple copies of char

[Paul Sandoz]

> On 8 Dec 2016, at 01:27, Claes Redestad <claes.redestad at oracle.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 2016-12-08 10:01, Ulf Zibis wrote:
>> Am 08.12.2016 um 09:28 schrieb Peter Levart:
>>> 
>>> On 12/07/2016 11:28 PM, Roger Riggs wrote:
>>>> AbstractStringBuilder:
>>>>   I agree with Claes' comment suggesting that IAE for negative lengths is a pain
>>>>   and defining it to append 0 would be natural in many use cases.
>>> 
>>> OTOH, inserting a simple Math.max(n, 0) instead of n where n could get negative would achieve the same without complicating the expression too much. Java standard APIs have a tradition of being explicit rather than having implicit hidden logic which surely shortens many usecases, but makes them harder to read and understand for casual readers not intimately familiar with such API. The logic to treat negative lengths as 0 is implicit and not universally correct.
>> +1
>> If we would treat negative values as 0, we loose a chance, where programmers could become aware about possible errors in the logic of their program.
> 
> Right, the two of you have convinced me that some exceptional explicitness is the better choice in this (and likely most) cases.
> 

+1 i think this is the correct approach.

Paul.