Question

I was updating a legacy code base in Java and I found a line like this:

Object arg[] = { new Integer(20), new Integer(22) };

That line catched my attention because I am used to this kind of code:

Object[] arg = { new Integer(20), new Integer(22) };

The content of the array isn’t important here. I’m curious about the brackets next to the variable name versus the brackets next to the class name. I tried in Eclipse (with Java 5) and both lines are valid for the compiler.

Is there any difference between those declarations?

Answer 1

Both are legal and both work. But placing [] before the array’s name is recommended.

From Javadocs:

You can also place the square brackets after the array’s name:

float anArrayOfFloats[]; // this form is discouraged

However, convention discourages this form; the brackets identify the array type and should appear with the type designation.