The answer
Yes, it is a good practice to handle edge cases at the very beginning of your function with simple 'if' statements to prevent runtime errors.
Understanding Problem Constraints and Inputs
Should I write code for edge cases first?
More FAQs in Understanding Problem Constraints and Inputs
Constraints are the boundaries of the input values (e.g., the size of the array, the maximum value of a number) that your code will be tested against.
They dictate the required time complexity. A large constraint (N=10^6) means you must write an efficient O(N) or O(log N) algorithm, ruling out brute force O(N^2).
An edge case is a rare or extreme situation, such as receiving an empty array, a null value, or extremely large numbers, which often breaks poorly planned code.
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