Arrays

Arrays are a way of arranging data of one type into a single structure. Think of single dimensional arrays as being like a single row in a spread sheet. Each array location has a piece of data and a location within the array. Arrays are declared in java as follows:

type VarName[] = new type[ArraySize];

Type is the type of data that the array will hold.
VarName is the name of the array.
ArraySize in a positive integer value that represents the number of cells in the array.

For example:

int x[]=new int[5];
This creates an array called x that has 5 cells as below.

In java the first cell in the array is always referenced with 0. For example if you wanted to assign a value to the first cell of the above array you would do this:

x[0]=7;

To get data from the array you would do this:

int y = x[2];

©2003 C. Whittington