Array Creation

[Saibabaa Pragada]

Hi, Here are my questions in comments

public class Question58_Array_Ask {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
    //Why I am getting error at Line 4 whereas I do not get error at line 5
	new int[2];//Why compile error .. Syntax error, insert "AssignmentOperator Expression" to complete Expression
	new Object();
	int[] it = new int [][]{{1}}[0];//what is the meaning of this statement?
    }
}

[Deepak Bala]

//Why compile error .. Syntax error, insert "AssignmentOperator Expression" to complete Expression

Assign the array to a variable to fix the error.

int[] it = new int [][]{{1}}[0];//what is the meaning of this statement?

An anonymous array with the contents 0,0 = 1 was created. You take this array and refer to the first (0) row which is assigned to it. That means it[0] is now 1.

[Saibabaa Pragada]

Deepak Bala wrote:Assign the array to a variable to fix the error.

Hi Bala, I am looking for reason why line 4 is giving error.

An anonymous array with the contents 0,0 = 1 was created. You take this array and refer to the first (0) row which is assigned to it. That means it[0] is now 1.

This explanation is confusing..Can you please write in a simple way

[Imad Aydarooos]

int[] intArray = new int[][] {{1,2,3},{4,5,6}}[1];
                  for(int i : intArray){
                         System.out.print(i + " ");
                     }

This will print:
4 5 6

[Saibabaa Pragada]

Thanks Imad. Could you please let me know the difference between

new int[2];//Compile Error..Why ??
new Object();//No error here..

[Imad Aydarooos]

Dear Saibabaa ... this code (new int[2];//Compile Error..Why ?? ) is an (Array Initializer) and as the JLS stated :
(An array initializer may be specified in a declaration, or as part of an array creation expression (§15.10), creating an array and providing some initial values)
so the code above is not a legal statment and will not create an array object by itself unless its used in a declaration or as part of an array creation expression" in other words there must be a left value contains either an array declaration or a refrence to array".
I thought the other way, means by creating an anonymus array, will work like the code below:
new int[]{1,2};
which will create an anonymous array of two int and returned a refrence to this int[], but using this my compiler throws [Not Statment]. I started searching the internet for a whole 24 hours and reading the JLS until I finally got THIS
I'm not fully confienced by this.. and i hope some one will elaborate on the subject.

regards

[Saibabaa Pragada]

I am not sure whether I understand this or not. Let me modify the question like this.

public class Question58_Array_Asked {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] y = new int[] {1, 2,3}; //Works fine and create an object on the heap
new Object();//Works fine and create an object on the heap
new int[] {1, 2,3}; //Based on above 2 statements, I created this statement but it doesn't compile
}
}

[Ankit Garg]

line 4 (of your code) gives error because its useless. Line 5 (of your code) on the other hand makes a constructor call. A constructor is a method so the call doesn't need to be assigned to a reference variable as it might have some side effects. Its a similar situation to this

static int function() {
    return 10*5;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
    10*5;  //error
    function();  //allowed
}

[Imad Aydarooos]

Dear Ankit, My question is :
line 4 will make a constructor call and create a new Object, and this is permisable. Then why its not permitted to construct anonymous array by the call at 5?. why the side effect in 4 might be needed and the side effect in 5 is not ?? !!

regards

[Imad Aydarooos]

I can understand that writing only literals without any Left Hand Value is meaning less, but creating objects has sure other side effects , then for Consistency Sake, I thought Java will allow creation of Array objects as it allow creation of any other object.

regards

[Devaka Cooray]

Imad Aydarooos wrote:I thought Java will allow creation of Array objects as it allow creation of any other object.

Creation of other objects may probably do something helpful. Suppose that there are some statements in the constructor. Probably, these statements could do something as showing a GUI window, or something else which is useful. So you can make these statements run just by instantiating that class. The creation of an array, on the other hand, does nothing other than just creating a set of empty elements. Generally, there is no way to place a set of statements to get fired upon an array creation. Therefore, if you create an array without making any reference to it, that array will be definitely useless, and thus it's not allowed.

[Saibabaa Pragada]

Hi Ankit,
1. Line 4 doesn't give error..
2. How Line 5 makes constructor call.
3. I think I am lost with Line 5 for your/others explanations. Could you please tell me why lines 5 (new int[] {1, 2,3};) is giving error.

Ankit Garg wrote:line 4 gives error because its useless. Line 5 on the other hand makes a constructor call. A constructor is a method so the call doesn't need to be assigned to a reference variable as it might have some side effects. Its a similar situation to this

static int function() {
    return 10*5;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
    10*5;  //error
    function();  //allowed
}

[Ankit Garg]

Saibabaa Pragada wrote:Hi Ankit,
1. Line 4 doesn't give error..
2. How Line 5 makes constructor call.
3. I think I am lost with Line 5 for your/others explanations. Could you please tell me why lines 5 (new int[] {1, 2,3};) is giving error.

1. Line 4 of my code WILL give an error, I don't know how you tried it. (edit: I edited my previous post to clarify that I was talking about line 4 of your code not mine)
2. Line 5 in your code is not the initialization of int[], its the call to new Object(). I suppose you know that will call the constructor of Object class.
3. Again, the statement new int[]{1,2,3} is useless. The int array that you are creating is wasted, its of no use, its not accessible by any means. But in case of a constructor call, the call to the method makes the statement valid even without assigning it to a reference variable...

[Saibabaa Pragada]

I have 2 different code snippets in this thread. That lead to confusion. I am writing the answer for my question.

new Object();//Works fine because Object class has no constructors and we are calling default constructor.
new int[] {1, 2,3}; // Does not work because there is no matching class and obviously no constructor. In case of Arrays, assigning is the only option.

[Ankit Garg]

Saibabaa Pragada wrote:new Object();//Works fine because Object class has no constructors and we are calling default constructor.

This has nothing to do if we call the default constructor or parameterized one. We can do this too

new String("whatever");

The point again is creating an array and not assigning it to anything would waste that array so its not allowed. Calling a method or constructor without an assignment on the other hand is allowed as it will not be useless in all cases. Like the example Devaka gave, we can show a GUI window in a constructor, or there could be many such things that can be done in a constructor...