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[QUOTE="Lew, post: 3871420"]
In Java, if the arguments are integers then division by 0 with the '/' 
operator throws an 'ArithmeticException'.  Is that "defensive programming"? 
Does it make the '/' operation slow?

In Java, if the arguments are of a floating-point type, e.g., 'double', then 
division by zero yields a double value ('NaN' or signed infinity).  Is that 
"defensive programming"?  Does it make the '/' operation slow?

It seems that Java is able to define arithmetic '/' such that it can handle 
all possible inputs without running into the performance problems that some 
seem to think are a risk.  If one wants to modify the behavior of division by 
zero, say with integers to avoid causing an 'ArithmeticException', one can do 
the optimized value check that Stefan suggests.  Presumably this would be 
inside a method that accepts a value for 'y' and forwards the action to 'f()' 
or '/' as needed.  Is that "defensive programming", or is the check outside 
the loop for 'y == 0' and corresponding delegation to 'f()' just "good 
programming"?
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