Arrays

Need to store a number of variables of the same type of data?  Use an array.

• To declare an array, use the array type, and then [].
• The [] can either go after the type, or after the name of the array.
• When initializing an array to a value, put the type on the right hand side of the =, followed by [] with the number of elements between the [ and the ].
• Example:
• To declare an array of Strings: String[] names;  or String names[];
• To initialize this array: names = new String[34];
• To initialize and declare in one step: String[] names = new String[34];
• Note: The size that you declare in the array cannot change!  If you need an array that will dynamically grow, you have options, but they are a bit slower.  You can use a Vector, an ArrayList, or a LinkedList.  We'll cover those later.
• To access an individual value in an array, use the index number of that value.  Keep in mind, Arrays start counting at 0!
• names[0] = "Lee Way"; would assign "Lee Way" to the first element of the array.
• myName = names[0]; would store the value of the first element of the names array in the variable myName.


 More About Arrays
 
 

Created by:  Brandan Jones January 4, 2002