Doubt in Array

[Karthikeyan Varadarajan]

Hi

I found this question in one of the mocks.

Which of the following code fragments will successfully initialize a two-dimensional array of chars named cA with a size such that cA[2][3] refers to a valid element?
 
1.
  char[][] cA = {  { 'a', 'b', 'c' },  { 'a', 'b', 'c' }   };
 
2.
  char cA[][] = new char[3][];
  for (int i=0; i<cA.length; i++) cA[i] = new char[4];
 
3.
  char cA[][] = { new char[ ]{ 'a', 'b', 'c' }  ,   new char[ ]{ 'a', 'b', 'c' }  };
 
4
  char cA[3][2] = new char[][] {  { 'a', 'b', 'c' },   { 'a', 'b', 'c' }   };
 
5.
  char[][] cA = { "1234", "1234",  "1234"  };  

Options

Select 1 correct option.

A.1, 3
B.4, 5
C.2, 3
D.1, 2, 3
E.2

I think the correct answer is A. but in that exam it mentioned as E.

Can any one explain, how the E is correct ?

[Steve Morrow]

Answer 'A' cannot be correct, as each "subarray" only has three elements (the maximum array index will be 2). So cA[2][3] will throw an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException. Answer 'E' (which points to option #2) initializes an array of three char arrays, then initializes each subarray with four elements (with a maximum array index of 3), so cA[2][3] will have a char value of 0.

Hope this helps.
[ June 27, 2005: Message edited by: Steve Morrow ]

[Karthikeyan Varadarajan]

Opps,

I got the idea. I read the question wrongly.

THanks a lot