Array of Objects

Question

I have a class A for example -

A[] arr = new A[4];

But this is only creating pointers (references) to A and not 4 objects. Is this correct? I see that when I try to access functions/variables in the objects created I get a null pointer exception. To be able to manipulate/access the objects I had to do this --

A[] arr = new A[4];
for( int i=0; i<4; i++ )
    arr[i] = new A();

Is this correct or am I doing something wrong? If this is correct its really odd.

Answer 1

Here is how you can create an array of 10 employee objects, with a parameterized constructor :

public class MainClass
{  
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
        //step1 : first create array of 10 elements that holds object addresses.
        Emp[] employees = new Emp[10];
        //step2 : now create objects in a loop.
        for(int i=0; i<employees.length; i++){
            employees[i] = new Emp(i+1);//this will call constructor.
        }
    }
}

class Emp{
    int eno;
    public Emp(int no){
        eno = no;
        System.out.println("emp constructor called..eno is.."+eno);
    }
}

Answer 2

You can also do :

A[] a = new A[] { new A("args"), new A("other args"), .. };

This syntax can also be used to create and initialize an array anywhere, such as in a method argument:

someMethod( new A[] { new A("args"), new A("other args"), . . } )