Why int[] a = new int[1] instead of just int a?

Question

Is there some hidden meaning in this code which I don\'t see in java? How can it be useful?

int[] a = new int[1];

than just

int         


        

Answer 1

An array of size one is not the same thing as a single integer.

Even if they carry the same information, they are different types, so you can use them in different contexts.

For example, if you have a function which performs a function on all elements of an array but you want to compute it only on one value, you should pass a int[1], because the function expects an array and wants to know how many values it should process.