Question

This is a Java style question. The brackets empty declare an array reference. With the ‘new’ keyword, they instantiate. Without the ‘new’ keyword, they index.

char[] myArray = new char[100];
output.format("%c\n", myArray[43]);

Of these uses of the brackets, the first case is an anomaly since it uses a special token to declare and does not look like a normal Java reserved word or Java identifier and has no number between the brackets. Is there an alternative that avoids this anomalous case?

Edit: Why might this matter? Arrays might be faster or use less memory than collections classes.

Answer 1

If you really wanted to, you could do this:

Object array = new int[8];
Array.set(array, 3, 5); // like array[3] = 5;
int x = (Integer) Array.get(array, 3); // like x = array[3];

This doesn’t involve reflection, so purists shouldn’t be offended.