array of inner class

[Meher Parveen]

Hi everyone,

I was playing around with declaring inner classes and this particular syntax confuses me.

For a simple inner class to declared in the main() of the outer class we use:

inner innerobj = new outer().new inner();

where as if we have to define an array of these inner classes in the main() of the outer class, all we need to do is:

inner[] innerobj = new inner[10];

This difference in syntax confuses me. Any ideas on why it is so?

Thanks,
Meher

[Paul Clapham]

In the first example you are creating an "inner" object, so you have to specify which "outer" object it belongs to.

In the second example you are not creating any "inner" objects. You are only creating an array, which is just a place to put "inner" objects. It does not need to belong to any "outer" objects, but the "inner" objects you later put into it do need to.

[Meher Parveen]

Thanks Paul,
That makes sense.