1

Arrays
• An array is a group of like-typed variables that are
referred to by a common name.
Tests
• Arrays of any type can be created and may have one
or more dimensions.
• A specific element in an array is accessed by its index.
• Arrays offer a convenient means of grouping related
information.
• A one-dimensional array is, essentially, a list of like-
typed variables.
• To create an array, you first must create an array
variable of the desired type. The general form of a
one-dimensional array declaration is

• type var-name[ ];
 2

Alternative Array Declaration Syntax

• There is a another form that may be used to declare
an array. For example, the following two declarations
are equivalent: Tests

• int al[] = new int[3];

• int[] a2 = new int[3];

• This alternative declaration form offers convenience

when declaring several arrays at the same time. For
example,

• int[] nums, nums2, nums3; // create three arrays

• int nums[], nums2[], nums3[]; // create three arrays
 3

Arrays
• Although this declaration (int month_days[])
establishes the fact that month_days is an array
variable, no array actually exists.
Tests
• The value of month_days is set to null, which
represents an array with no value.
• To link month_days with an actual, physical array of
integers, you must allocate one using new and assign
it to month_days.
• new is a special operator that allocates memory.
• Once an array is created, its size is fixed. An array
reference variable is used to access the elements in
an array using an index.

• array-var = new type[size];

• month_days = new int[12];
 4

Assigning values to arrays

• The statement int month_days[] = new int[12]; just
declares an integer array which can contain 12
integers. Tests

• The values to this integer can be assigned by

accessing its elements using indices. For example

month_days[0] = 31 assigns value 31 to index 0 of array

month_days[1] = 28 assigns value 28 to index 1 of array

System.out.println(month_days[1]);
 5

A simple program using Array

// Demonstrate a one-dimensional array.
class Array {
Tests {
public static void main(String args[])
int month_days[];
month_days = new int[12];
month_days[0] = 31; month_days[1] = 28; month_days[2] = 31;
month_days[3] = 30; month_days[4] = 31; month_days[5] = 30;
month_days[6] = 31; month_days[7] = 31; month_days[8] = 30;
month_days[9] = 31; month_days[10] = 30; month_days[11] = 31;
System.out.println("April has " + month_days[3] + " days.");
}
}
 6

Another simple program using Array

import java.util.Scanner;

double[] myList = new double[10]; Tests

Scanner input = new java.util.Scanner(System.in);

System.out.print("Enter " + myList.length + " values: ");
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++)
myList[i] = input.nextDouble();

Note: We use for loop for arrays because length of array

is already known.
 7

Practice Problem for taking Average

• Write a program which asks user to enter the total
number of entries for taking average.
Tests

• Declare an array with size of entries entered by user.

• Ask user to enter the actual numbers for which

average has to be taken and save it in an array using
for loop

• Use another for loop to scan through array and

calculate the sum and average

• Print average at the output.

 8

Code
System.out.print("Please specify total number of entrie:\t");
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
int entries = input.nextInt(); Tests
double[] myList = new double[entries];
System.out.print("Enter " + myList.length + " values and press
enter after every value: ");
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++){
myList[i] = input.nextDouble();}
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++){
sum+= myList[i];}
double average = sum/myList.length;
System.out.print("Average is: \t" + average);
 9

Array Initialization
• Arrays can be initialized when they are declared.
• An array initializer is a list of comma-separated
expressions surrounded by curly Tests braces. The commas
separate the values of the array elements.
• The array will automatically be created large enough
to hold the number of elements you specify in the
array initializer. There is no need to use new.

class AutoArray {
public static void main(String args[]) {
int month_days[] = { 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30,
31, 30, 31 };
System.out.println("April has " + month_days[3] + "
days.");
 10

Practice Program

1- Initialize an Array month_days with month values as

Tests
given in a previous program (AutoArray Class).

2- Use Scanner class to ask user which month days

he/she wants to know.

3- Display the month days after extracting from Array.

 11

Practice Program Code

import java.util.Scanner;
public class MonthDays{
Tests
public static void main(String args[]) {
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
int month_days[] = { 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31,
30, 31 };
System.out.println("This program shows number of days of
any month you enter.");
System.out.print("Please enter month number : ");
int month_number = input.nextInt();
System.out.println("The number of days in month "+
month_number + " are " + month_days[month_number-1]);
}
}
 12

Practice Problem
Declare an array and initialize it with few values.

Tests
Use a for loop to scan through this array and find out the
maximum value in this array.
 13

Practice problem code

int [] myList = { 10, 15, 1, 7, 17, 4 , 2 , 8};

Tests
int max = myList[0];
for (int i = 1; i < myList.length; i++){
if (myList[i]>max)
max=myList[i];
}

System.out.print("Maximum is: \t" + max);

 14

Practice problem
Writing a program for shifting the elements one position to
the left and filling the last element with the first element:
Tests
 15

foreach loop
• Java supports a convenient for loop, known as a
foreach loop, which enables you to traverse the array
sequentially without using an index variable.
Tests
• For example, the following code displays all the
elements in the array myList:

for (double e: myList) {

System.out.println(e);
}

• You can read the code as “for each element e in

myList, do the following.” Note that the variable, e,
must be declared as the same type as the elements in
myList.
 16

Practice problem
Declare and initialize an array and use foreach loop to
print all elements of array in one line with a tab
between the elements. Tests
 17

Copying Arrays
• To copy the contents of one array into another, you have to
copy the array’s individual elements into the other array.
• Often, in a program, you need to duplicate an array or a
Tests could attempt to use the
part of an array. In such cases you
assignment statement (=), as follows:
list2 = list1;
• However, this statement does not copy the contents of the
array referenced by list1 to list2, but instead merely copies
the reference value from list1 to list2. After this
statement, list1 and list2 reference the same array
 18

Copying Arrays
• In Java, you can use assignment statements to copy
primitive data type variables, but not arrays.
• Assigning one array variable to another array variable
actually copies one reference Tests
to another and makes both
variables point to the same memory location.
• There are three ways to copy arrays:

• Use a loop to copy individual elements one by one.

• Use the static arraycopy method in the System class.
• Use the clone method to copy arrays (will study after
studying classes)
 19

Using loop to Copy Arrays

• You can write a loop to copy every element from the source
array to the corresponding element
• in the target array. The following code, for instance, copies
sourceArray to targetArray usingTests
a for loop.

int[] sourceArray = {2, 3, 1, 5, 10};

int[] targetArray = new int[sourceArray.length];

for (int i = 0; i < sourceArray.length; i++) {

targetArray[i] = sourceArray[i];
}
 20

Using arraycopy to Copy Arrays

• Another approach is to use the arraycopy method in the
java.lang.System class to copy arrays instead of using a loop. The
syntax for arraycopy is:
Tests
• arraycopy(sourceArray, srcPos, targetArray, tarPos, length);

• The parameters srcPos and tarPos indicate the starting positions in

sourceArray and targetArray, respectively.
• The number of elements copied from sourceArray to targetArray is
indicated by length. For example, you can rewrite the loop using
the following statement:
• System.arraycopy(sourceArray, 0, targetArray, 0,
sourceArray.length);

• The arraycopy method does not allocate memory space for the
target array. The target array must have already been created with
its memory space allocated. After the copying takes place,
 21

Passing Arrays to Methods

• When passing an array to a method, the reference of the array is
passed to the method.
• Just as you can pass primitive typeTests
values to methods, you can
also pass arrays to methods but there are important differences
between passing the values of variables of primitive data types
and passing arrays.

• For an argument of a primitive type, the argument’s value is

passed.
• For an argument of an array type, the value of the argument is a
reference to an array; this reference is passed to the method.
Thus, if you change the array in the method, you will see the
change outside the method.
• Semantically, it can be best described as pass-by-sharing, that is,
the array in the method is the same as the array being passed.
 22

Example of Passing Arrays to Methods

public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int x = 1; // x represents an int value
Tests
int[] y = new int[10]; // y represents an array of int values
m(x, y); // Invoke m with arguments x and y
System.out.println("x is " + x);
System.out.println("y[0] is " + y[0]);
}
public static void m(int number, int[] numbers) {
number = 1001; // Assign a new value to number
numbers[0] = 5555; // Assign a new value to numbers[0]
}
}
 23

Example of Passing Arrays to Methods

public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int x = 1; // x represents an int value
Tests
int[] y = new int[10]; // y represents an array of int values
m(x, y); // Invoke m with arguments x and y
System.out.println("x is " + x);
System.out.println("y[0] is " + y[0]);
}
public static void m(int number, int[] numbers) {
number = 1001; // Assign a new value to number
numbers[0] = 5555; // Assign a new value to numbers[0]
}
}
 24

Returning an Array from a Method

• When a method returns an array, the reference of the array is
returned.
• You can pass arrays when invoking a method. A method may also
Tests
return an array. For example, the following method returns an
array that is the reversal of another array.

public static int[] reverse(int[] list) {

int[] result = new int[list.length];
j = result.length – 1;
for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
result[j] = list[i];
j--;
}
return result;
}
 25

Returning an Array from a Method

• Write a program which uses a method to reverse elements of
array. The return type of method should
Tests
be void and it should
reverse elements of array using reference to original array
 26

Searching Arrays
• Searching is the process of looking for a specific element in an
array
Tests
• for example, discovering whether a certain score is included in a
list of scores.

• Searching is a common task in computer programming. Many

algorithms and data structures are devoted to searching.

• Two commonly used approaches are, linear search and binary

search.
 27

The Linear Search

• The linear search approach compares the key element key
sequentially with each element in the array.
• It continues to do so until the key matches
Tests an element in the array
or the array is exhausted without a match being found.
• If a match is made, the linear search returns the index of the
element in the array that matches the key. If no match is found,
the search returns -1.

public static int linearSearch(int[] list, int key) {

for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (key == list[i])
return i;
}
return -1;
}
 28

Practice Program using the Linear Search

Write a program which uses linear search method to find index of 6

in this array. Tests

int[] list = {1, 4, 4, 2, 5, -3, 6, 2};

 29

The Binary Search

• For binary search to work, the elements in the array must already
be ordered.
Tests
• Assume that the array is in ascending order.
• The binary search first compares the key with the element in the
middle of the array. Consider the following three cases:

• If the key is less than the middle element, you need to continue to
search for the key only in the first half of the array.
• If the key is equal to the middle element, the search ends with a
match.
• If the key is greater than the middle element, you need to
continue to search for the key only in the second half of the array.
 30

The Binary Search

public static int binarySearch(int[] list, int key) {
int low = 0;
int high = list.length - 1;
Tests
while (high >= low) {
int mid = (low + high) / 2;
if (key < list[mid])
high = mid - 1;
else if (key == list[mid])
return mid;
else
low = mid + 1;
}
return –low - 1; // Now high < low, key not found
}
 31

Practice Program using the Binary Search

Write a program which uses binary search method to find index of 11

in this array. Tests

int[] list = {2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 45, 50, 59, 60, 66, 69, 70, 79};
 32

Multi Dimensional Arrays

• In Java, multidimensional arrays are actually arrays of arrays.
• To declare a multidimensional array variable, specify each
Tests
additional index using another set of square brackets

• int twoD[][] = new int[4][5];

• This allocates a 4 by 5 array and assigns it to twoD.

Internally this matrix is implemented as an array of arrays of
int.
• The graphical visualization of this array is given on the next
slide.
 33

Multi Dimensional Arrays

Tests
 34

Multi Dimensional Arrays

• When you allocate memory for a multidimensional array, you
need only specify the memory for the first (leftmost)
dimension. You can allocate Tests
the remaining dimensions
separately. For example

int twoD[][] = new int[4][];

twoD[0] = new int[1];
twoD[1] = new int[2];
twoD[2] = new int[3];
twoD[3] = new int[4];
 35

Multi Dimensional Arrays

• It is possible to initialize multidimensional arrays. To do so,
simply enclose each dimension’s initializer within its own set
of curly braces. Tests

• double m[][] = {
• { 0*0, 1*0, 2*0, 3*0 },
• { 0*1, 1*1, 2*1, 3*1 },
• { 0*2, 1*2, 2*2, 3*2 },
• { 0*3, 1*3, 2*3, 3*3 }
• };

• Write a program to create this multi dimensional

array and print its element at 3rd row and 2nd column.