Re: Newbie Question - ArrayLists and referencing it

From:
Lew <lew@lewscanon.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.java.programmer
Date:
Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:45:23 -0500
Message-ID:
<XbqdnbaIjaaZWajanZ2dnUVZ_qqgnZ2d@comcast.com>
Taria wrote:

I've tried many different ways to assign a value to the position of my
choice in a data structure, ArrayList and would appreciate any hints
how to do this. My program as follows (short version):

import java.util.*;
    public class MyProg1 {


Excellent name for the class. Seriously - many newbies would use a name part
like "Class" for something that we already know is a class. You gave a
correctly-capitalized name that has a meaning - it's your program number one,
hence "MyProg1". Perfect.

       public static void main(String[] args) {
          ArrayList data = new ArrayList();


Chris ( Val) pointed out:

You are using an "unchecked" ArrayList here, try:
  "ArrayList<Integer> data = new ArrayList<Integer>();"


Taria wrote:

          ArrayList [] table = new ArrayList[5];


You do not need an array of ArrayList. Your 'table' is not an ArrayList, but
a group of five ArrayLists.

          data.add(1);
          data.add(3);
          data.add(4);
           for ( int i = 0; i < 3; i++ ){
              //table.add(data.get(i)); //these are 3 different


This failed because data.get(i) is an Integer (not an int), and table needs a
whole ArrayList, not just one Integer.

Also because add() is not a method of an array.

failed ways that I've tried
              //table[i]=data.get(i);


This failed because data.get(i) is an Integer (not an int), and table needs a
whole ArrayList, not just one Integer.

             //table(i)=data.get(i);


You use bracket notation '[]' not parentheses '()' to assign to an array element.

This failed because data.get(i) is an Integer (not an int), and table needs a
whole ArrayList, not just one Integer.

             table[0] = data;
         }
 }

Essentially, I want to assign the first value of data to the first
element of table, the second value of data to table(2,0), and 3rd
element to table(3,0). The statement table[0] = data puts the whole
arrayList data to table(0) which is not what I want.


You cannot do what you want because table is an array of ArrayList, not an
array of Integer.

How do you reference the elements of table? I thought I understood the
referening until now. :x


table[0] = data;
just like you did. Each element of table is a whole entire ArrayList
(possibly empty or null).

Oh, you want table to hold Integers instead of ArrayLists? Then you want:

List <Integer> data = new ArrayList <Integer> ();
data.add(1);
data.add(2);
data.add(3);

Integer [] table = new Integer [5];
for ( int ix = 0; ix < Math.min( data.size(), table.length ); ++ix)
{
   table [ix] = data.get( ix );
}

FWIW, arrays and collections make uneasy bedfellows.

--
Lew

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