Declaring an Array

To specify the type of elements and to allocate the number of elements required by an array.

<modifiers> <data
type>[] <array name> = new <data
type>[<array size>];

or

<modifiers> <data
type>[] <array name>;

<array name> = new
<data type>[<array
size>];

or

<modifiers> <data
type>[] <array name> = {<comma separated
list of initializers>};

private int[] myArray = new
int[20]; // declares an array and allocates space for 20
integers

or

private int[] myArray; // declares
the array

myArray = new int[20]; // allocates
the array

or

private int[] myArray = {1, 2, 3,
4, 5}; // creates a five element array of integers and itializes
the elements to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

<modifiers> is an optional space-separated list of valid modifiers.
<data type>, either the name of a class or a base type, declares what type the array will hold references to.
<variable name> is any valid identifier which is unique to the current scope.
<array size> is an integer that allocates the size of the array (how many references it can hold).
<comma-separated list of initializers> are items of the declared data type. This list initializes the size of the array to the number of initializers, and initializes the elements of the array to those initializers.

The number of elements in the array is never specified in the square brackets after the array name.

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