Declaring arrays merely says what kind of values the array will
hold. It does not create them. Java arrays are objects, and like
any other object you use the new
keyword to create
them. When you create an array, you must tell the compiler how many
components will be stored in it. Here's how you'd create the
variables declared on the previous page:
k = new int[3];
yt = new float[7];
names = new String[50];
The numbers in the brackets specify the length of the array; that
is, how many slots it has to hold values. With the lengths above
k
can hold three ints, yt
can hold seven
floats and names
can hold fifty Strings. This step is
sometimes called allocating the array since it sets aside the
memory the array requires.