15.9.1

Run time Evaluation of Array Creation Expressions

EXPRESSIONS

DimExprs:

DimExpr

DimExprs DimExpr

DimExpr:

[

Expression

 ]

Dims:

[ ]

Dims

 [ ]

An array creation expression creates an object that is a new array whose ele 

ments are of the type specified by the

PrimitiveType

 or

TypeName

. The

TypeName

may name any reference type, even an

abstract

 class type ( 8.1.2.1) or an inter 

face type ( 9).

The type of the creation expression is an array type that can denoted by a copy

of the creation expression from which the

new

 keyword and every

DimExpr

expression have been deleted; for example, the type of the creation expression:

new double[3][3][]

is:

double[][][]

The type of each dimension expression

DimExpr

 must be an integral type, or a

compile time error occurs. Each expression undergoes unary numeric promotion

( 5.6.1). The promoted type must be

int

, or a compile time error occurs; this

means, specifically, that the type of a dimension expression must not be

long

.

15.9.1   Run time Evaluation of Array Creation Expressions

At run time, evaluation of an array creation expression behaves as follows.

First, the dimension expressions are evaluated, left to right. If any of the

expression evaluations completes abruptly, the expressions to the right of it are not

evaluated.

Next, the values of the dimension expressions are checked. If the value of any

DimExpr

 expression is less than zero, then an

NegativeArraySizeException

 is

thrown.

Next, space is allocated for the new array. If there is insufficient space to allo 

cate the array, evaluation of the array creation expression completes abruptly by

throwing an

OutOfMemoryError

.

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