Getting compiler error while using array constants in the constructor

Question

public class Sonnet29 implements Poem {
    private String[] poem;
    public Sonnet29() {
        poem = { \"foo\", \"bar\" , \"baz\"};
    }
    @Override
    publ         


        

Answer 1

{"cat", "dog"}

Is not an array, it is an array initializer.

new String[]{"cat", "dog"}

This can be seen as an array 'constructor' with two arguments. The short form is just there to reduce RSI.

They could have given real meaning to {"cat", "dog"}, so you could say things like

{"cat", "dog"}.length

But why should they make the compiler even harder to write, without adding anything useful? (ZoogieZork answer can be used easily)