ARRAYS - Java Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design - page 564

Array Index Out of Bounds Exception
Consider the following declaration:

double [] num = double [10];
int i;

The element num[i] is valid, that is, i is a valid index if i = 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ,or 9 .
The index—say, index —of an array is in bounds if index >= 0 and index
<= arraySize - 1 .Ifeither index < 0 or index > arraySize - 1 ,thenwesay
that the index is out of bounds.
In Java, if an array index goes out of bounds during program execution, it throws an
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException exception. If the program does not handle this
exception, the program terminates with an appropriate error message.
A loop such as the following can set the index out of bounds:

for (i = 0; i <= 10; i++)
list[i] = 0;
Here, we assume that list is an array of 10 elements. When i becomes 10 , the loop test
condition i <= 10 evaluates to true , the body of the loop executes, and the program tries
to access list[10] , which does not exist.

BASE ADDRESS OF AN ARRAY
The base address of an array is the address (memory location) of the first array element.
For example, if list is a one-dimensional array, then the base address of list is the
address of the element list[0] . The value of the variable list is the base address of
the array—the address of list[0] . It follows that when you pass an array as a parameter,
the base address of the actual array is passed to the formal parameter.

Declaring Arrays as Formal Parameters to Methods
Just like other data types, you can declare arrays as formal parameters to methods. A
general syntax to declare an array as a formal parameter is:
dataType[] arrayName

For example, consider the following method:

public static void arraysAsFormalParameter( int [] listA,
double [] listB,
int num)

{

//...

}

This method has three formal parameters. The formal parameters listA and listB are
arrays, and num is of type int .