Returning an array
Suppose you’re writing a method and you don’t just want to return just one thing, but a whole bunch of things. Languages like C and C++ make this difficult because you can’t just return an array, only a pointer to an array. This introduces problems because it becomes messy to control the lifetime of the array, which easily leads to memory leaks.
Java takes a similar approach, but you just “return an array.” Unlike C++, with Java you never worry about responsibility for that array—it will be around as long as you need it, and the garbage collector will clean it up when you’re done.
As an example, consider returning an array of String:
//: c11:IceCream.java
// Returning arrays from methods.
import com.bruceeckel.simpletest.*;
import java.util.*;
public class IceCream {
private static Test monitor = new Test();
private static Random rand = new Random();
public static final String[] flavors = {
"Chocolate", "Strawberry", "Vanilla Fudge Swirl",
"Mint Chip", "Mocha Almond Fudge", "Rum Raisin",
"Praline Cream", "Mud Pie"
};
public static String[] flavorSet(int n) {
String[] results = new String[n];
boolean[] picked = new boolean[flavors.length];
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
int t;
do
t = rand.nextInt(flavors.length);
while(picked[t]);
results[i] = flavors[t];
picked[t] = true;
}
return results;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
for(int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
System.out.println(
"flavorSet(" + i + ") = ");
String[] fl = flavorSet(flavors.length);
for(int j = 0; j < fl.length; j++)
System.out.println("\t" + fl[j]);
monitor.expect(new Object[] {
"%% flavorSet\\(\\d+\\) = ",
new TestExpression("%% \\t(Chocolate|Strawberry|"
+ "Vanilla Fudge Swirl|Mint Chip|Mocha Almond "
+ "Fudge|Rum Raisin|Praline Cream|Mud Pie)", 8)
});
}
}
} ///:~
The method flavorSet( ) creates an array of String called results. The size of this array is n, determined by the argument that you pass into the method. Then it proceeds to choose flavors randomly from the array flavors and place them into results, which it finally returns. Returning an array is just like returning any other object—it’s a reference. It’s not important that the array was created within flavorSet( ), or that the array was created anyplace else, for that matter. The garbage collector takes care of cleaning up the array when you’re done with it, and the array will persist for as long as you need it.
As an aside, notice that when flavorSet( ) chooses flavors randomly, it ensures that a particular choice hasn’t already been selected. This is performed in a do loop that keeps making random choices until it finds one not already in the picked array. (Of course, a String comparison also could have been performed to see if the random choice was already in the results array.) If it’s successful, it adds the entry and finds the next one (i gets incremented).
main( ) prints out 20 full sets of flavors, so you can see that flavorSet( ) chooses the flavors in a random order each time. It’s easiest to see this if you redirect the output into a file. And while you’re looking at the file, remember that you just want the ice cream, you don’t need it.
