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Automatic expansion of arrays?

 
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I must have missed this in K&B. the following code is run with the command: java ArrayTest 0 1 2


What I see here is an array of 3 elements being pushed into an array that was defined with 2 elements. Do you agree? This code compiles, runs and prints 012012.
Am I reading this correctly? If so does this mean that an array will "auto size" itself to accespt all of the elements of another array being assigned to it?
Thanks
 
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Looks like you missed this: s=args;

Mind you, I had to blink twice before I saw it.
 
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In short:
s is just a reference-variable of type "String-Array" and as such it can point to String-Arrays of any size. First you let it reference an Array of size 2 and after that to an array of size 3. Ther is nothing like "auto-size" as s denotes just a reference-variable and not an array!

In long:
https://coderanch.com/t/263017/java-programmer-SCJP/certification/Arrays
 
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Just in case the OP was under the impression that the following...

s=args;

does an element by element assignment, it does not. To do a copy of the elements of the array into another array, you should use the System.arraycopy() method.

Henry
 
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Originally posted by Henry Wong:
Just in case the OP was under the impression that the following...

s=args;

does an element by element assignment, it does not. To do a copy of the elements of the array into another array, you should use the System.arraycopy() method.

Henry



Or to put it differently again:

defines an object reference which is able to point at String arrays, and at time of creation it happens to point at an String array object with a dimension of 2. Then the object to which s is pointing is changed by this line:

Now args is a String array as well, and since s was defined to point at String arrays, the assignment is correct (the original String array is likely to be gc-fodder), and the program runs happily.
 
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Yes. The Arrays are not like Collections wherein they are dynamically varying (able to grow/shrink) nature. (Though, the code internally does it explicitly).

As others told, what you are doing here is just making the String reference variable s to point to a * different * array and now its of args, which was previously to the array created through String[2].

Just reassigning the same variable to point to the * different object *.

HtH.
[ June 11, 2007: Message edited by: Raghavan Muthu ]
 
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Thanks all for your great input. I completely missinterpreted the statement " s=args", in that this was a reasignment of s.

This is such a great forum...
thangs again
 
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