Java: How to pass byte[] by reference

javapass-by-reference

You can do it in .NET by using the keyword "ref". Is there any way to do so in Java?

Best Solution

What are you doing in your method? If you're merely populating an existing array, then you don't need pass-by-reference semantics - either in .NET or in Java. In both cases, the reference will be passed by value - so changes to the object will be visible by the caller. That's like telling someone the address of your house and asking them to deliver something to it - no problem.

If you really want pass-by-reference semantics, i.e. the caller will see any changes made to the parameter itself, e.g. setting it to null or a reference to a different byte array, then either method needs to return the new value, or you need to pass a reference to some sort of "holder" which contains a reference to the byte array, and which can have the (possibly changed) reference grabbed from it later.

In other words, if your method looks likes this:

public void doSomething(byte[] data)
{
    for (int i=0; i < data.length; i++)
    {
        data[i] = (byte) i;
    }
}

then you're fine. If your method looks like this:

public void createArray(byte[] data, int length)
{
    // Eek! Change to parameter won't get seen by caller
    data = new byte[length]; 
    for (int i=0; i < data.length; i++)
    {
        data[i] = (byte) i;
    }
}

then you need to change it to either:

public byte[] createArray(int length)
{
    byte[] data = new byte[length]; 
    for (int i=0; i < data.length; i++)
    {
        data[i] = (byte) i;
    }
    return data;
}

or:

public class Holder<T>
{
    public T value; // Use a property in real code!
}

public void createArray(Holder<byte[]> holder, int length)
{
    holder.value = new byte[length]; 
    for (int i=0; i < length; i++)
    {
        holder.value[i] = (byte) i;
    }
}

For more details, read Parameter passing in C# and Parameter passing in Java. (The former is better written than the latter, I'm afraid. One day I'll get round to doing an update.)

Related Solutions

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    // we pass the object to foo
    foo(aDog);
    // aDog variable is still pointing to the "Max" dog when foo(...) returns
    aDog.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // false
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // change d inside of foo() to point to a new Dog instance "Fifi"
    d = new Dog("Fifi");
    d.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
}

In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    foo(aDog);
    // when foo(...) returns, the name of the dog has been changed to "Fifi"
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
    // but it is still the same dog:
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // this changes the name of d to be "Fifi"
    d.setName("Fifi");
}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Java – How to efficiently iterate over each entry in a Java Map

Map<String, String> map = ...
for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : map.entrySet()) {
    System.out.println(entry.getKey() + "/" + entry.getValue());
}

On Java 10+:

for (var entry : map.entrySet()) {
    System.out.println(entry.getKey() + "/" + entry.getValue());
}

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java – How to efficiently iterate over each entry in a Java Map

Related Question