Как работает list.set() для ArrayList?

/**
 * The array buffer into which the elements of the ArrayList are stored.
 * The capacity of the ArrayList is the length of this array buffer. Any
 * empty ArrayList with elementData == EMPTY_ELEMENTDATA will be expanded to
 * DEFAULT_CAPACITY when the first element is added.
 */
transient Object[] elementData; // non-private to simplify nested class access


/**
 * Replaces the element at the specified position in this list with
 * the specified element.
 *
 * @param index index of the element to replace
 * @param element element to be stored at the specified position
 * @return the element previously at the specified position
 * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException {@inheritDoc}
 */
public E set(int index, E element) {
    rangeCheck(index);

    E oldValue = elementData(index);
    elementData[index] = element;
    return oldValue;
}

/**
 * Checks if the given index is in range.  If not, throws an appropriate
 * runtime exception.  This method does *not* check if the index is
 * negative: It is always used immediately prior to an array access,
 * which throws an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if index is negative.
 */
private void rangeCheck(int index) {
    if (index >= size)
        throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(outOfBoundsMsg(index));
}

E elementData(int index) {
    return (E) elementData[index];
}