Quotes About Arrays

arrays are covariant. This scary-sounding word means simply that if Sub is a subtype of Super, then the array type Sub[] is a subtype of the array type Super[]. Generics, by contrast, are invariant: for any two distinct types Type1 and Type2, List is neither a subtype nor a supertype of List. You might think this means that generics are deficient, but arguably it is arrays that are deficient.

public class MergeBU { private static Comparable[] aux; // auxiliary array for merges // See page 271 for merge() code. public static void sort(Comparable[] a) { // Do lg N passes of pairwise merges. int N = a.length; aux = new Comparable[N]; for (int sz = 1; sz < N; sz = sz+sz) // sz: subarray size for (int lo = 0; lo < N-sz; lo += sz+sz) // lo: subarray index merge(a, lo, lo+sz-1, Math.min(lo+sz+sz-1, N-1)); } }

Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.

Prose fills a space, like a liquid poured in from the top, but poetry occupies it, arrays itself in formation, sets up camp and refuses to budge.

Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.

Zero-length arrays are useful only in cases where you have a large structure, which contains a field of dynamic length, and you need to share that structure across program or even computer boundaries.