The Java Language Specification, Third Edition

4.3.1 Objects TYPES, VALUES, AND VARIABLES
46
// An array is implicitly created by an array constructor:
Point a[] = { new Point(0,0), new Point(1,1) };
// Strings are implicitly created by + operators:
System.out.println("p: " + p);
System.out.println("a: { " + a[0] + ", "
+ a[1] + " }");
// An array is explicitly created by an array creation expression:
String sa[] = new String[2];
sa[0] = "he"; sa[1] = "llo";
System.out.println(sa[0] + sa[1]);
}
}
which produces the output:
default
p: (0,0)
a: { (0,0), (1,1) }
hello
The operators on references to objects are:
• Field access, using either a qualified name (§6.6) or a field access expression
(§15.11)
• Method invocation (§15.12)
• The cast operator (§5.5, §15.16)
• The string concatenation operator + (§15.18.1), which, when given a String
operand and a reference, will convert the reference to a String by invoking
the toString method of the referenced object (using "null" if either the reference
or the result of toString is a null reference), and then will produce a
newly created String that is the concatenation of the two strings
• The instanceof operator (§15.20.2)
• The reference equality operators == and != (§15.21.3)
• The conditional operator ?: (§15.25).
DRAFT
There may be many references to the same object. Most objects have state,
stored in the fields of objects that are instances of classes or in the variables that
are the components of an array object. If two variables contain references to the
same object, the state of the object can be modified using one variable’s reference
to the object, and then the altered state can be observed through the reference in
the other variable.