JAVA
ARRAYS
ARRAYS
GENERAL
Java provides a data structure, the array, which stores a fixed‐size sequential collection of elements of the
same type. An array is used to store a collection of data, but it is often more useful to think of an array as a
collection of variables of the same type.
Instead of declaring individual variables, such as number0, number1, ..., and number99, you declare one array
variable such as numbers and use numbers[0], numbers[1], and ..., numbers[99] to represent individual
variables.
DECLARING ARRAY VARIABLES
To use an array in a program, you must declare a variable to reference the array, and you must specify the type
of array the variable can reference. Here is the syntax for declaring an array variable:
dataType[] arrayRefVar; // preferred way
or
dataType arrayRefVar[]; // works, but not preferred way
NOTE
The style dataType[] arrayRefVar is preferred. The style dataType arrayRefVar[] comes from
the C/C++ language and was adopted in Java to accommodate C/C++ programmers
EXAMPLE
double[] myList; // preferred way
or
double myList[]; // works but not preferred way
CREATING ARRAYS
You can create an array by using the new operator with the following syntax:
arrayRefVar = new dataType[arraySize];
The above statement does two things:
It creates an array using new dataType[arraySize];
It assigns the reference of the newly created array to the variable arrayRefVar.
Declaring an array variable, creating an array, and assigning the reference of the array to the variable can be
combined in one statement, as shown below:
dataType[] arrayRefVar = new dataType[arraySize];
Alternatively you can create arrays as follows:
dataType[] arrayRefVar = {value0, value1, ..., valuek};
ACCESSING ARRAY ELEMENTS
The array elements are accessed through the index.
Array indices are 0‐based; that is, they start from 0 to arrayRefVar.length-1.
EXAMPLE
Following statement declares an array variable, myList, creates an array of 10 elements of double type and
assigns its reference to myList:
double[] myList = new double[10];
Following picture represents array myList. Here, myList holds ten double values and the indices are from 0 to 9.
PROCESSING ARRAYS:
When processing array elements, we often use either for loop or foreach loop because all of the elements in an
array are of the same type and the size of the array is known.
EXAMPLE
Here is a complete example of showing how to create, initialize and process arrays:
public class TestArray {
public static void main(String[] args) {
double[] myList = {1.9, 2.9, 3.4, 3.5};
// Print all the array elements
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++) {
System.out.println(myList[i] + " ");
}
// Summing all elements
double total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++) {
total += myList[i];
}
System.out.println("Total is " + total);
// Finding the largest element
double max = myList[0];
for (int i = 1; i < myList.length; i++) {
if (myList[i] > max) max = myList[i];
}
System.out.println("Max is " + max);
}
}
This would produce the following result:
1.9
2.9
3.4
3.5
Total is 11.7
Max is 3.5
THE FOREACH LOOPS
JDK 1.5 introduced a new for loop known as foreach loop or enhanced for loop, which enables you to traverse
the complete array sequentially without using an index variable.
EXAMPLE
The following code displays all the elements in the array myList:
public class TestArray {
public static void main(String[] args) {
double[] myList = {1.9, 2.9, 3.4, 3.5};
// Print all the array elements
for (double element: myList) {
System.out.println(element);
}
}
}
This would produce the following result:
1.9
2.9
3.4
3.5
PASSING ARRAYS TO METHODS
Just as you can pass primitive type values to methods, you can also pass arrays to methods. For example, the
following method displays the elements in an int array:
public static void printArray( int[] array ) {
for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
System.out.print(array[i] + " ");
}
}
You can invoke it by passing an array. For example, the following statement invokes the printArray method to
display 3, 1, 2, 6, 4, and 2:
printArray(new int[]{3, 1, 2, 6, 4, 2});
RETURNING AN ARRAY FROM A METHOD
A method may also return an array. For example, the method shown below returns an array that is the reversal
of another array:
public static int[] reverse(int[] list) {
int[] result = new int[list.length];
for (int i = 0, j = result.length - 1; i < list.length; i++, j--) {
result[j] = list[i];
}
return result;
}
THE ARRAYS CLASS
The java.util.Arrays class contains various static methods for sorting and searching arrays, comparing
arrays, and filling array elements. These methods are overloaded for all primitive types.
Methods with Description
1 public static int binarySearch(Object[] a, Object key)
Searches the specified array of Object ( Byte, Int , double, etc.) for the specified value using the binary
search algorithm. The array must be sorted prior to making this call. This returns index of the search key,
if it is contained in the list; otherwise, (‐(insertion point + 1).
2 public static boolean equals(long[] a, long[] a2)
Returns true if the two specified arrays of longs are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered
equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the
two arrays are equal. This returns true if the two arrays are equal. Same method could be used by all
other primitive data types (Byte, short, Int, etc.)
3 public static void fill(int[] a, int val)
Assigns the specified int value to each element of the specified array of ints. Same method could be used
by all other primitive data types (Byte, short, Int etc.)
4 public static void sort(Object[] a)
Sorts the specified array of objects into ascending order, according to the natural ordering of its
elements. Same method could be used by all other primitive data types ( Byte, short, Int, etc.)
EXAMPLES
As arrays are extremely useful for JAVA programming, let us study several simple examples.
EVEN ODD NUMBER EXAMPLE
/* This Java Even Odd Number Example shows how to check if the given
number is even or odd. */
public class FindEvenOrOddNumber {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//create an array of 10 numbers
int[] numbers = new int[]{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};
for(int i=0; i < numbers.length; i++){
/* Use modulus operator to check if the
number is even or odd: If we divide
any number by 2 and reminder is 0 then
the number is even, otherwise it is odd.
*/
if(numbers[i]%2 == 0)
System.out.println(numbers[i]
+ " is even number.");
else
System.out.println(numbers[i]
+ " is odd number.");
}
}
}
Output of the program would be
1 is odd number.
2 is even number.
3 is odd number.
4 is even number.
5 is odd number.
6 is even number.
7 is odd number.
8 is even number.
9 is odd number.
10 is even number.
FIND LARGEST AND SMALLEST NUMBER IN AN ARRAY EXAMPLE
/* This Java Example shows how to find largest and smallest number in
an array. */
public class FindLargestSmallestNumber {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//array of 10 numbers
int numbers[] = new
int[]{32,43,53,54,32,65,63,98,43,23};
//assign first element of an array to largest and
smallest
int smallest = numbers[0];
int largetst = numbers[0];
for(int i=1; i< numbers.length; i++)
{
if(numbers[i] > largetst)
largetst = numbers[i];
else if (numbers[i] < smallest)
smallest = numbers[i];
}
System.out.println("Largest Number is : " +
largetst);
System.out.println("Smallest Number is : " +
smallest);
}
}
Output of this program would be
Largest Number is : 98
Smallest Number is : 23
I/O
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
public class JavaFactorialUsingRecursion {
public static void main(String args[]) throws
NumberFormatException, IOException{
System.out.println("Enter the number: ");
//get input from the user
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new
InputStreamReader(System.in));
int a = Integer.parseInt(br.readLine());
//call the recursive function to generate factorial
int result= fact(a);
System.out.println("Factorial of the number is: "
+ result);
}
static int fact(int b)
{
if(b <= 1)
//if the number is 1 then return 1
return 1;
else
//else call same function with the value-1
return b * fact(b-1);
}
Output of this Java example would be
Enter the number:
5
Factorial of the number is: 120
