| Purpose | To save large numbers of data elements, either primitives or objects. |
| Universal | Almost all programming languages have arrays. |
| Same type | All elements in an array must be the same type, either primitive or object. |
| Declaration | Precede variable with element type and square brackets. Eg,
int[] scores;
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| Allocation | Memory to store array elements must be allocated with new. Eg,
int[] scores; // Declares that scores is an array of integers.
scores = new int[12]; // Allocate memory to hold up to 12 score values.
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| Combined | It's very common to combine the declaration with the allocation.
int[] scores = new int[12]; // Declare and allocate memory in one statement.
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| Fixed size | When memory is allocated for an array, it is a fixed size block. It does not expand. |
| Plural names | The most common naming advice is to use plural names or collective nouns. |
| References | Array variables are references to array objects. Two variables can reference the same array. |
| zero/null/false | If no initial values are specified for array elements
(see below), array elements are initialized to zero for numbers, null for object references,
and false for booleans. This is the same as for all object fields.
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| Initialization | A curly brace surrounded list of values can be specified
on the declaration. This allocates exactly enough space to hold the array.
The following are equivalent.
String[] names = {"Mickey", "Minnie", "Donald"};
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String[] names = new String[3];
names[0] = "Mickey";
names[1] = "Minnie";
names[2] = "Donald";
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| Integers | Selecting a particular position in an array is done by specifying an integer value. |
| enums | Enum values may also be used in index an array. |
| Square brackets | Subscripts are written after an array variable, enclosed in square brackets.
scores[5] = 86; // Assigns the value 86 as the 5th value.
scores[ss]++; // Increments the score of element whose number is in ss.
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| Start at 0 | The first subscript value is zero, not one. |
| Bounds check | ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException is thrown if subscripts are out of the legal range. |
| Names | When a subscript has no meaning, it's common to use i, j, k.
Otherwise use a descriptive name. |
| Length/size | The size of an array can be found by referencing
the length field, eg, scores.length .
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| For loops | For loops are the most common way to iterate
over array elements. The normal for loop is good for
going forwards, backwards, subranges, comparing two elements, or on every nth element.
If you are just going forward over the entire array, the enhanced for loop
is more readable.
//... Using standard for loop.
int[] scores = new int[12];
. . . Set values in the scores array.
int total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < scores.length; i++) {
total += scores[i];
}
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//... Using enhanced for loop.
int[] scores = new int[12];
. . . Set values in the scores array.
int total = 0;
for (int scr : scores) {
total += scr;
}
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