Why is drJava throwing me an error here on my String?

Question

I know this may be a really dumb question, but I'm testing out the Interactions pane in drJav.

I create a String variable, then try to do .length on it:

 String fish;
 String[] hooo;
 hooo.length

then I get an error, whic is puzzling me :

edu.rice.cs.util.UnexpectedException: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.MainJVM$ResultHandler.forUnexpectedException(MainJVM.java:1045)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.MainJVM$ResultHandler.forUnexpectedException(MainJVM.java:992)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.InterpretResult$UnexpectedExceptionResult.apply(InterpretResult.java:111)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.MainJVM.interpret(MainJVM.java:351)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.RMIInteractionsModel._interpret(RMIInteractionsModel.java:75)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.InteractionsModel.interpret(InteractionsModel.java:291)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.InteractionsModel$2$1.run(InteractionsModel.java:241)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at java.lang.reflect.Array.getLength(Native Method)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.symbol.ArrayLengthField$1.value(ArrayLengthField.java:27)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.visit(ExpressionEvaluator.java:56)
    at koala.dynamicjava.tree.ObjectFieldAccess.acceptVisitor(ObjectFieldAccess.java:92)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.value(ExpressionEvaluator.java:38)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.value(ExpressionEvaluator.java:37)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.visit(StatementEvaluator.java:106)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.visit(StatementEvaluator.java:29)
    at koala.dynamicjava.tree.ExpressionStatement.acceptVisitor(ExpressionStatement.java:101)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.evaluateSequence(StatementEvaluator.java:66)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.Interpreter.evaluate(Interpreter.java:77)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.Interpreter.interpret(Interpreter.java:47)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.InterpreterJVM.interpret(InterpreterJVM.java:246)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.InterpreterJVM.interpret(InterpreterJVM.java:220)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run0(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    ... 1 more

Caused by:
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at java.lang.reflect.Array.getLength(Native Method)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.symbol.ArrayLengthField$1.value(ArrayLengthField.java:27)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.visit(ExpressionEvaluator.java:56)
    at koala.dynamicjava.tree.ObjectFieldAccess.acceptVisitor(ObjectFieldAccess.java:92)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.value(ExpressionEvaluator.java:38)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.ExpressionEvaluator.value(ExpressionEvaluator.java:37)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.visit(StatementEvaluator.java:106)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.visit(StatementEvaluator.java:29)
    at koala.dynamicjava.tree.ExpressionStatement.acceptVisitor(ExpressionStatement.java:101)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.StatementEvaluator.evaluateSequence(StatementEvaluator.java:66)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.Interpreter.evaluate(Interpreter.java:77)
    at edu.rice.cs.dynamicjava.interpreter.Interpreter.interpret(Interpreter.java:47)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.InterpreterJVM.interpret(InterpreterJVM.java:246)
    at edu.rice.cs.drjava.model.repl.newjvm.InterpreterJVM.interpret(InterpreterJVM.java:220)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run0(Unknown Source)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

 Thank You,

I know it's an empty array, but I want it to show me that - i.e 0 should come up.

Answer 1

You didn't assign a value to hooo, so its value is null. When you attempt to access a property of a null object, you are thrown a NullPointerException.

Instead, try something like the following.

String fish;
String[] hooo = {"Hello!", "Let's be friends."};
hooo.length;