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Array01 PDF

Arrays allow storing and accessing a collection of values of the same type through indexes. An array is an object that holds a fixed number of elements of a single type. Elements in an array are accessed via an integer index with the first element at index 0. Arrays provide direct access to elements by index and the ability to process all elements with loops. The length field of an array stores the number of elements.

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58 views13 pages

Array01 PDF

Arrays allow storing and accessing a collection of values of the same type through indexes. An array is an object that holds a fixed number of elements of a single type. Elements in an array are accessed via an integer index with the first element at index 0. Arrays provide direct access to elements by index and the ability to process all elements with loops. The length field of an array stores the number of elements.

Uploaded by

abdulsattar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Structured Data in Java

Arrays
Introduction to Arrays
• Arrays give us the ability to:
– Store a (potentially large) collection of homogeneous data
– Have direct access to any one element in the collection by its position

• An array is a special kind of object


– Only has a small number of methods
– Easiest to think of it as a collection of variables all of the same type
– The position, or index, of an element uses zero-based indexing just
like the characters in a string
Introduction to Arrays
• If we create an array called score that is an array of
five elements, it is convenient to think of it as a
collection of five variables:
score[0], score[1], score[2], score[3], and score[4]

• These five variables could be used anywhere a normal


variable could be used:
– We can access its current value
– We can assign it a new value
– We can pass it as a parameter to a method
– Etc.
Array Terminology
• An array is the collection of values

• Any one value is an array element

• The position of an array element is specified by an index

• The kind of values stored is known as the base type

• The number of elements of the array is its size or length


Array Declaration
• Arrays are an object type
– We must declare the variable and create the object

• Syntax:
type[] array_name = new type[length];

• Example:
int[] score = new int[5];

• The length must be a non-negative integer value


– Could be a compile-time constant or a run-time value
– Once an array is created, its size cannot be changed
Array Declaration
• When created, each array element gets initialized to a
"zero-equivalent" value
Type Default value
int 0
double 0.0
boolean false
any object type null
(no object yet)
Array Declaration
• We usually draw an array as a row or column of boxes
 Example: the array score of five integers

index 0 1 2 3 4

The array score 0 0 0 0 0

score[0] score[4]
Square Brackets with Arrays
• Square brackets are used in several places:
1. When declaring an array
int[] score;

2. When creating an array object


score = new int[5];

3. When accessing an array element


score[0] = 12;
Accessing Array Elements
array_name[index] // to access
array_name[index] = value; // to modify

– Example:
int[] score = new int[5];
number[1] = 12;
number[2] = 15;
if (number[1] < number[2]) {
number[4] = number[2] - number[1];
}
index 0 1 2 3 4

The array score 0 0


12 0
15 0 0
3
Out-of-bounds
• Valid indices are between zero and the array's length - 1
– Using an invalid index will result in an exception being thrown:
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

• Example:
int[] score = new int[5];
out.println(score[0]); // okay
int i = 4;
out.println(score[i]); // okay
out.println(score[-2]); // throws exception
i = 5;
out.println(score[i]); // throws exception
Array Processing
• It is easy to process all elements of an array with a for loop
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
out.println(score[i]);
}

• Or to assign a new value to each element


for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
score[i] = 10 - i;
}
index 0 1 2 3 4

value 10 9 8 7 6
The Instance Variable length
• An array is an object, and that object has a field called
length that stores the number of elements in the array
– You access it using dot notation on the array name:
name.length
– It does not use parentheses like a String's .length()
• Since it is a data field and not a method

– It is read-only; you cannot change it

– Using name.length typically produces cleaner code than using an


integer literal
The Instance Variable length
• Here is an example of a for loop that uses the array’s
length field:
for (int i = 0; i < score.length; i++) {
out.println(score[i]);
}

• This code will continue to work even if the array score is


changed to hold more or fewer elements

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