Java generics and array initialization

Question

What\'s the explanation for the following:

public class GenericsTest {
    //statement 1
    public ArrayList[] lists;

    public GenericsTes         


        

Answer 1

In this case, I would avoid using arrays for just this reason. The declaration of "lists" in your original code could be

List> lists = new ArrayList>(4);
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) lists.add(null); // or add an empty ArrayList

(you should use the interface rather than the implementation in variable declarations)

Instead of array [] syntax, you would use get() or set(). Other than that, it's equivalent.