Question

I am trying to create a method that removes duplicates from a 2d array. the outside array conains point indexes and the inner array contains their coordinates. It looks like i have to use an arraylist in order to remove elements without ending up with null values in the array. I would then like to convert the arraylist back into a 2D array in order to return it in the format i require. The problem is that the arraylsit contains an array of objects so i can’t cast it into an array designed for floats. what is the correct syntax for filtering the floats from my array list. my code follows:

public class rem_duplicates {
    public float [][] rem_geo_duplicates(float a[][]){

        ArrayList<float[]> al = new ArrayList<float[]>();
        float no_points = a.length;
        int count = 0;


        for (int i = 0; i < no_points-1; i++){
            if((a[i][0] == a[i+1][0])&&(a[i][1] == a[i+1][1])){
                    a[i] = null;
                    count ++;
            }

        for (int j = 0; j < no_points; j++){
            if (a[j] != null){
                al.add(a[j]);       
            }
        }

        //how do i get the arraylist 'al' into this array b[][]?
        float b[][] = new float [a.length-count][3];
        b = al.toArray();


        }

    }
    return b
}

Answer 1

Try using the following:

float b[][] = new float [a.length-count][3];
b = al.toArray(b);

This is the generic version of toArray() which in your case will return a float[][]. Keep in mind that float[] is an object, so there are no issues of boxing/unboxing here.

I notice several basic issues with your code however – I recommend trying to compile it and resolving the errors.