How do you set an array instance variable to a specific set of data?

Question

public class Sentencegenerator {
private String[] subjects;
private String[] verbs; 
private String[] directObjects;

public Sentencegenerator(){
    subjects = {"Cat", "Dog", "Joe", "Teacher", "Policeman", "Doctor", "Dick"};
    verbs = {"eats", "reads", "cums", "farts", "poops", "stabs", "cries"};
    directObjects = {"book", "sticker", "fish", "man", "chiwawa", "marker", "cheese"};
}

public Sentencegenerator(String[] mySubjects, String[] myVerbs, String[]    myDirectObjects){
    subjects = mySubjects;
    verbs = myVerbs;
    directObjects = myDirectObjects;
}

I know you can only create array constants when you initialize an array, but is there a way I can make an array instance variable and then make a constructor that has its own constants?

Answer 1

There are two ways to instantiate an array to a constant array:

String[] subjects = {"Cat", "Dog", "Joe", "Teacher", "Policeman", "Doctor", "Dick"};

or:

String[] subjects;
subjects = new String[] {"Cat", "Dog", "Joe", "Teacher", "Policeman", "Doctor", "Dick"};

In your constructor, you need to use the latter (note the new String[] part).