What does index mean in Java?

[Phillip Larson]

Hello,

I'm writing a program and I'm a little bit confuse on what index does in Java. Can someone please tell me what index is used for in Java?

Here my code if you need it.

import java.util.Random;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class dinner {

	
	public static void main(String[] args){
		System.out.println("Please type in dinner to choose a random meal idea:");
    
		Scanner user = new Scanner(System.in);
		
		String something = user.nextLine(); 
		
		if(something.equals("dinner")){
			String[] Marrys = {"Tacos","Pizza","Hotdogs","Corndogs","Hamburger","Meatloaf","HamburgerHelper", "Street Kitchen"};
			Random random = new Random();
			int index = random.nextInt(Marrys.length);
			System.out.println(Marrys[index]);
		}else{ 
			System.out.println("Please type dinner next time.");
		}
		
	  }

}

Thanks In Advance

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

The index is the position in the array. So the first element is index 0. Which is "Tacos". The second element is index 1. Which is "Pizza". Etc

[Phillip Larson]

Thank you for the reply and I enjoy reading your book OCA 8.

[Junilu Lacar]

The term "index" is not specific to Java. In programming languages, "index" usually refers to an ordinal number which is a number that defines a thing's position in a series of things. An array contains a series of same-typed elements, A String contains a series of characters, and a List contains a series of objects. You can use an index to reference any particular element, character, or object in these. In Java, index values are usually 0-based. That is, the first item in a series has an index of 0 and the last item has an index of (length - 1) where length is the total number of items in the series.