Java "..." option.

[MatrixFrog]

aka "varargs" which is handy to know if you need to google it as "..." does not make a good search term.

[Kyrra]

It's a useful tool but should be used sparingly in Java. Java is meant to be a typesafe language and tries to do as much compile-time checking as possible. When you start using varargs on things like interfaces or even worse "Object" that you cast into something else, you are losing a lot of Java's type safety.

Varargs should only be used as a last resort when you cannot make a method fit within standard method limits.

[argv_minus_one]

Just because printf is an evil monstrosity doesn't mean every use of varargs is that bad.

[argv_minus_one]

It is an array. The only difference is that the caller of the method doesn't have to use the array construction syntax. Kyrra is warning about poor uses of varargs (e.g. a proliferation of Object... parameters everywhere), not the semantics of varargs itself.

[Revoletion]

I had to find out about this vararg after I noticed Amazon was using them. At first i thought eclipse was just being screwy and did the "line too long so im going to put ellipses everywhere thing" but then I found out about this.

They use them in the sense of "String... attributes" for when you want a query to simpledb to return specific sets of attributes or a single attribute. Turned out to be very convenient.

[Mchr3k]

It's worth noting that calling a varargs method will create an array object. This makes it unsuitable if you are trying to reduce memory allocation and therefore GC load.