Is there any way to create a primitive array without initialization?

Question

As we know Java always initialises arrays upon creation. I.e. new int[1000000] always returns an array with all elements = 0. I understand that it\'s a must for

Answer 1

I'm going to move this to an answer because it probably should be.

An "Array" in java is not what you think it is. It's not just a pointer to a chunk of contiguous memory on the stack or heap.

An Array in Java is an Object just like everything else (except primitives) and is on the heap. When you call new int[100000] you're creating a new object just like every other object, and it gets initialized, etc.

The JLS provides all the specific info about this:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se5.0/html/arrays.html

So, no. You can't avoid "initializing" an array. That's just not how Java works. There's simply no such thing as uninitialized heap memory; many people call that a "feature" as it prevents you from accessing uninitialized memory.