Arrays in CLIPS

Our first example demonstrates the use of arrays in Java. An array is a fixed-size collection of elements of the same type.

public class Arrays {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Here we create an array 'a' that will hold exactly
        // 5 integers. In Java, arrays are zero-indexed.
        int[] a = new int[5];
        System.out.println("emp: " + java.util.Arrays.toString(a));

        // We can set a value at an index using the
        // array[index] = value syntax, and get a value with
        // array[index].
        a[4] = 100;
        System.out.println("set: " + java.util.Arrays.toString(a));
        System.out.println("get: " + a[4]);

        // The length property returns the length of an array.
        System.out.println("len: " + a.length);

        // Use this syntax to declare and initialize an array
        // in one line.
        int[] b = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
        System.out.println("dcl: " + java.util.Arrays.toString(b));

        // In Java, you can't use '...' to let the compiler count
        // the elements. The size is determined by the initializer.
        b = new int[]{1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
        System.out.println("dcl: " + java.util.Arrays.toString(b));

        // Java doesn't support specifying indices in array initializers
        // like Go does. We need to create the array and then assign values.
        b = new int[5];
        b[0] = 100;
        b[3] = 400;
        b[4] = 500;
        System.out.println("idx: " + java.util.Arrays.toString(b));

        // Array types are one-dimensional, but you can
        // create multi-dimensional arrays.
        int[][] twoD = new int[2][3];
        for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
                twoD[i][j] = i + j;
            }
        }
        System.out.println("2d: " + java.util.Arrays.deepToString(twoD));

        // You can create and initialize multi-dimensional
        // arrays at once too.
        twoD = new int[][]{
            {1, 2, 3},
            {4, 5, 6}
        };
        System.out.println("2d: " + java.util.Arrays.deepToString(twoD));
    }
}

When you run this program, you’ll see:

emp: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
set: [0, 0, 0, 0, 100]
get: 100
len: 5
dcl: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
dcl: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
idx: [100, 0, 0, 400, 500]
2d: [[0, 1, 2], [1, 2, 3]]
2d: [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]

Note that arrays in Java are printed using square brackets [] when using Arrays.toString() or Arrays.deepToString() methods.

In Java, arrays have a fixed size once they’re created. If you need a dynamically-sized array, you should consider using an ArrayList or other collections from the Java Collections Framework.