Lesson:
Arrays in Java
Pre-Requisites
Basic Java synta
Java methods
List of Concepts Involved
Array Introductio
Declaratio
Creatio
Array Type
Operation
Problems based on arrays
Suppose we have to write a program in which can accept salaries of 50 employees. If we solve this problem by
making use of variables, we need 50 variables to store employees’ salaries. Managing these 50 variables is not
an easy task and will make the program a complex and lengthy one. This problem can be solved by declaring 1
array having 50 elements. Did you notice how convenient the scenario became? If arrays are that useful, why
not learn about them?
Topic: Array Introduction
Array is a data structure (storage, used to store and organize data) to store a group or collection of
(homogenous data) items, sequentially, inside memory. Homogenous data is data of the same type, for
example, integer or string or floating number, etc. Each array element is identified with an index number
The indexing of an array is 0-based i.e. the first element is at index 0, second element is at index 1 and so on.
The desired array element can be directly and individually accessed using these numbered indexes
The memory allocation in arrays is contiguous i.e. elements are stored one after another
An array can be single-dimensional or multi-dimensional based on the utility and application.
Topic: Array Declaration and Creation
An array can be created using a new keyword in Java.
type var-name[];
OR
type[] var-name;
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Examples:
Primitive
int intArray[];
or int[] intArray;
byte byteArray[];
short shortsArray[];
boolean booleanArray[];
long longArray[];
float floatArray[];
double doubleArray[];
char charArray[];
Object
MyClass myClassArray[];
Object[] ao;
Collection[] ca
Array initialization
datatype [] var-name = new type [size];
Example: int[] intArray = new int[20]
Array Literal
With curly braces, we can initialize the array and add value to it during initialization without defining the size.
int[] intArray = { 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 };
You might be wondering that why arrays should be used when we already have the provision of creating as
many variables as we want/need.
Look at the scenarios mentioned below which will clear the air around utility of arrays for our good.
Case 1: Scenario without Array
In the example below, we are using five different variables to save our elements one by one.
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
String colour1 = "Red";
String colour2 = "Green";
String colour3 = "Blue";
String colour4 = "Yellow";
String colour5 = "Purple";
// To print all the elements to the console
System.out.println(colour1);// Red
System.out.println(colour2);// Green
System.out.println(colour3);// Blue
System.out.println(colour4);// Yellow
System.out.println(colour5);// Purple
Woah ! It was cumbersome and may result in manual mistakes. Isn’t it ?
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Case 2: Using the array concept
Now, we will implement the same scenario using an array.
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
// To create an array of colours to store values
String colours[] = {"Red", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Purple"};
// To print all the elements entered in a array to the console
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println(colours [i]);
Output:
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Purple
Thats it ?! Yes, absolutely !
Did you see how arrays made the implementation so convenient and saved a lot of our coding time !
Let us understand how these approaches are different
Without an array, each value is stored in different variables, which results in random memory allocation for
each variable; whereas when we used the concept of array, the values were stored in contiguous memory
locations. Hence, handling and accessing data became extremely convenient.
Arrays have an unlimited potential if we use them correctly. Let us look at its types and see how versatile these
can be to handle the most complex scenarios (which will be discussed in the forthcoming lectures)
Topic: Array Types
There can be many classifications in arrays but we will concentrate on the most widely used ones that are
based on the dimension of data that it is handling.
1.Single-dimensional Array:
When we have elements stored in a single dimension sequentially, they are called single-dimensional arrays.
We can declare and allocate memory to a single-dimensional array using a single variable in Java.
Here is an example,
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
String[] colours = {"red", "green", "blue"};
// To print the elements in the console:
for(String colour : colours)
System.out.print(colour + ", " );
Output:
red, green, blue
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Syntax for declaring a single dimension array -
int[] <name_of_array> = {element_0, element_1, element_2, element_3, ...
elementN};
Different approach to create array in Java:
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
// To create an Single-Dimension array:
int[] myArray = { 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 };
// first element
System.out.println(myArray[0]); // to print 1
// second element
System.out.println(myArray[1]); // to print 2
// Third element
System.out.println(myArray[2]); // to print 3
// fourth element
System.out.println(myArray[3]); // to print 4
// fifth element
System.out.println (myArray[4]); // to print 5
Output:
Multi-dimensional Array:
A multidimensional array is simply an array that consists of two or more dimensions and is also commonly
referred to as an array of arrays.
The diagram below will help you visualize the actual implementation structure of a multi- dimensional array.
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To build a two-dimensional array, wrap each array in its pair of "[]" square brackets.
Look at the example below for clarity. Here we are creating a 2-dimensional array
int[][] items = {
{2, 3},
{5, 6},
{7, 8}
};
Topic : Operations in Arrays
Here, we are going to discuss the most basic operations that can be done on a
1. Length of array
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
String[] colours = {"Red", "Green"," Yellow"," Purpμe"};
int length = colours.length;
System.out.println(length); // print 4
Important Note: Array index always starts from 0, which means the first element is stored at index 0 and the
last element will be stored at index length-1.
2. Looping through Array
There are many ways to iterate over the Array. The most common ways of looping through arrays in Java are
For Loop
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Creating an Array
String[] colours = {"Red", "Green"," Yellow"," Purple"};
// Using loop to iterate over array
int length = colours.length;
// Printing array elements using index
System.out.println(length); // print 4
For each loop
This loop helps in iterating over iterable objects like String, Array and so on.
Syntax:
for (<data_type> <variable_name> : <array_name> ) {
statement;
Limitation
Its limitation is that it can only be used for traversing the whole array and not part of the array.
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Example:
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] a = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 };
// iterating over an array
for (int i : a) {
// accessing each element of array
System.out.println(i);
Output:
Topic: Arrays Problems
Problem 1: Calculate the sum of all the elements in the given array.
Input : arr[] = {1, 5, 3}
Output: 9
Code:
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] arr = { 1, 5, 3};
int sum = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
sum += arr[i];
System.out.println(sum);
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Problem 2: Calculate the maximum value out of all the elements in the array.
Input : arr[] = {1, 5, 3}
Output : 5
Code:
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] arr = { 1, 5, 3};
int mx = arr[0];
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if(arr[i] > mx) mx = arr[i];
System.out.println(mx);
Problem 3: Search if the given element x is present in the array or not and find the index. If not present then
return the index as -1. (Linear Search)
Input : arr[] = {1, 5, 3}
x = 5
Output : 1
Code:
public class Color
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] arr = { 1, 5, 3};
int x=5;
int index = -1;
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
if(arr[i] == x) index = i;
System.out.println(index);
That is all for this class ! See you in the next array lecture !! Keep learning ! Keep Exploring !!
Upcoming Class Teaser :
Advance Array Concepts
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