In Java, what are the types of variables ‘p’ and ‘q’ in the declarations…

Concept

In Java, a variable’s declared type is formed from the type written before the declarator list together with any [] written after that variable’s identifier. Brackets in the shared type apply to every variable in that declaration, while brackets after one identifier apply only to that variable.

Application

1. In int r[], p;, the shared type is int. The [] after r applies only to r, while p has no bracket suffix; therefore p has type int.

2. In int[] t, q;, [] is part of the shared type before the declarator list. It applies to both t and q; therefore q has type int[].

Cross-check

• The first declaration can be rewritten as int[] r; int p;.

• The second declaration can be rewritten as int[] t; int[] q;.

Result

Hence p is an int variable and q is an int[] variable.