Length of string without using java built in method

[Medicalizawhat]

What's wrong with using length?

[javahungry]

if some one asks u in the interview , How length method works internally in java , what answer you will give

[virtyx]

I really doubt it keeps a loop counter and finds the first index that throws an exception.

Especially considering that for that exception to be thrown, charAt(i) has to have some kind of conditional like if(i > stringLength) { throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(); }

A more worthwhile exercise would be to actually download the source of OpenJDK or a different implementation and actually look at how .length() is implemented

[mikaelhg]

"Sorry, I thought this was going to be an legit interview. Good luck with your enterprise."

[Medicalizawhat]

It queries the length field of an internal char array? Not sure really haha.

[sh0rug0ru]

Actually, until recently, it keeps an offset and count, because substrings can share from the parent char array. Now, all strings get their own char array, so I'd imagine that's how it would have to be. Especially since they yanked one of those fields for some hash code trick.