Extending the Arrays-class in Java

Question

I'm trying to add functionality to the Arrays-class. In my project I use the (static) methods from Arrays and have some other methods that also handle array-conversion, sorting, etc...

I'm trying to add these to an object MyArrays that extends Arrays so I can go

MyArrays.toList(foo);

but also

MyArrays.myOwnFunction(bar);

but i'm not able to extend it because Arrays-contructor has private access. I know it's not really necessary, but now I know i'm unable to do it, I realy want to. Is there any workaround for this?

thanks,

What Arrays-class are we talking about here? Neither java.util.Arrays nor java.lang.reflect.Array contain a toList method. However, since the reflect version is final, you can't extend it. And since both classes consist solely of static methods, do you really need to extend the class anyway? — Brian S
– Brian S, Commented Aug 3, 2010 at 18:00

Bozho · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-03 17:56:51Z

6

You can't. And why would it matter whether you have the utility functions in one or in two classes? For the record - there is commons-lang's ArrayUtils that has additional utility methods.

Technically, you can reimplement all methods in your utility class by simply calling the corresponding methods in Arrays, but that's unneeded.

answered Aug 3, 2010 at 17:56

Bozho

599k147 gold badges1.1k silver badges1.2k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

user3932000 Over a year ago

And why can't you? I know its def constructor is private so you physically can't extend Arrays, but what's the reasoning behind it?

Peter Lawrey · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-03 18:39:10Z

0

I suggest you try using the Trove4j library. This has collections which support primitives has many of the useful Arrays/Collections methods added, like sort(). They can also be extended.

answered Aug 3, 2010 at 18:39

Peter Lawrey

535k83 gold badges770 silver badges1.2k bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Extending the Arrays-class in Java

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related