About args to main()

[Rashmi Tambe]

Hello,
I tried following code...

public class testMain
{
static int[] a1;
private static void main(String args[])
{
System.out.println("In main" + args.length);

new testMain().m1(a1);
}
void m1(int[] a)
{
System.out.println("In m1()" + a.length);
}
}

I u run it as java testMain
the o/p is
in main 0
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at testMain.m1(testMain.java:12)
at testMain.main(testMain.java:8)

Even if args to main are not initialised while running the program, args.length prints '0'. But if static arr a1 is not initialised and a.length is tried , it throws NullPointerException. Why so??? or i am missing something?? or args to main are automatically initialised???
Thanx in advance.
Rashmi

[Maulin Vasavada]

Hi Rashmi,
static arguments are also initialized. Here a[] is reference and so it's initialized to null. so when u say a.length it raises an exception.
but true, u r right about the main() method. even if u don pass anything at run time to the program it's not initialized to null but it's something like args[] = new String[0]. and so when u do args.length on main() methods parameter it says '0' as result.
if u do same thing with that static int[] a (meaning initializing like static int[] a = new int[0]) it wont give u exception but answer as '0' when u try to do a.length
HTH
Maulin