Snippet from array.c in ruby-1.9.2-p136

array.c

/*
 *  call-seq:
 *     ary[index]                -> obj     or nil
 *     ary[start, length]        -> new_ary or nil
 *     ary[range]                -> new_ary or nil
 *     ary.slice(index)          -> obj     or nil
 *     ary.slice(start, length)  -> new_ary or nil
 *     ary.slice(range)          -> new_ary or nil
 *
 *  Element Reference---Returns the element at _index_,
 *  or returns a subarray starting at _start_ and
 *  continuing for _length_ elements, or returns a subarray
 *  specified by _range_.
 *  Negative indices count backward from the end of the
 *  array (-1 is the last element). Returns +nil+ if the index
 *  (or starting index) are out of range.
 *
 *     a = [ "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" ]
 *     a[2] +  a[0] + a[1]    #=> "cab"
 *     a[6]                   #=> nil
 *     a[1, 2]                #=> [ "b", "c" ]
 *     a[1..3]                #=> [ "b", "c", "d" ]
 *     a[4..7]                #=> [ "e" ]
 *     a[6..10]               #=> nil
 *     a[-3, 3]               #=> [ "c", "d", "e" ]
 *     # special cases
 *     a[5]                   #=> nil
 *     a[5, 1]                #=> []
 *     a[5..10]               #=> []
 *
 */

VALUE
rb_ary_aref(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE ary)
{
    VALUE arg;
    long beg, len;

    if (argc == 2) {
	beg = NUM2LONG(argv[0]);
	len = NUM2LONG(argv[1]);
	if (beg < 0) {
	    beg += RARRAY_LEN(ary);
	}
	return rb_ary_subseq(ary, beg, len);
    }
    if (argc != 1) {
	rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", 0, 0);
    }
    arg = argv[0];
    /* special case - speeding up */
    if (FIXNUM_P(arg)) {
	return rb_ary_entry(ary, FIX2LONG(arg));
    }
    /* check if idx is Range */
    switch (rb_range_beg_len(arg, &beg, &len, RARRAY_LEN(ary), 0)) {
      case Qfalse:
	break;
      case Qnil:
	return Qnil;
      default:
	return rb_ary_subseq(ary, beg, len);
    }
    return rb_ary_entry(ary, NUM2LONG(arg));
}

VALUE
rb_ary_subseq(VALUE ary, long beg, long len)
{
    VALUE klass;

    if (beg > RARRAY_LEN(ary)) return Qnil;
    if (beg < 0 || len < 0) return Qnil;

    if (RARRAY_LEN(ary) < len || RARRAY_LEN(ary) < beg + len) {
	len = RARRAY_LEN(ary) - beg;
    }
    klass = rb_obj_class(ary);
    if (len == 0) return ary_new(klass, 0);

    return ary_make_partial(ary, klass, beg, len);
}