weird statment....method call

[Niranjan Deshpande]

class FunckingWeird
{
   public static int[ ] getArray() {  return null;  }
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int index = 1;
      try
      {
         getArray()[index=2]++; //line1
      }
      catch (Exception e){  }  //empty catch
      System.out.println("index = " + index);
   }
}

the statement on line 1 seems weird. i thought that the code
wont compile.....because the statement doesnt male any sense.
code compiles and o/p is 2

please explain line 1

thanks in advance
nieranjan

[Narender Kumar]

Well, I thnk explanation lies in the fact that null is returned and is
perfectly acceptable as a int[] (object can be null).

Further whenever we try to access [index=2] on a null, it throws
exception and in catch you have a index value print statement, hence is
the output 2.

Does that answer your question?

[Balaji Sampath]

Wow
I didnt know we can assign the index value of the array,as in line 1 of the code posted by Niranjan. Was that a new addition in jdk 1.5 or was in the earlier versions itself!!!

[Barry Gaunt]

Originally posted by Balaji Sampath:
Wow
I didnt know we can assign the index value of the array,as in line 1 of the code posted by Niranjan. Was that a new addition in jdk 1.5 or was in the earlier versions itself!!!

Remember that an assigment statement such as index=2 is also an expression. The value of the expression is 2, the value assigned to index. The value of the expression is what is used to index the array.