So I have an abstract data type called RegionModel with a series of values (Region), each mapped to an index. It's possible to remove a number of regions by calling:
regionModel.removeRegions(index, numberOfRegionsToRemove);
My question is what's the best way to handle a call when the index is valid :
(between 0 (inclusive) and the number of Regions in the model (exclusive))
but the numberOfRegionsToRemove is invalid:
(index + regionsToRemove > the number of regions in the model)
Is it best to throw an exception like IllegalArgumentException or just to remove as many Regions as I can (all the regions from index to the end of the model)?
Sub-question: if I throw an exception what's the recommended way to unit test that the call threw the exception and left the model untouched (I'm using Java and JUnit here but I guess this isn't a Java specific question).